A walk around Stratford-upon-Avon

Sunday 1st January 2023 (and Tuesday 3rd January 2023)

After heavy rain the evening before, it was wonderful to wake up in the new year to find blue skies and sunshine, so eagerly I left the Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Hostel and walked down the road into the town. This is a place that I can’t remember visiting before so I was looking forward to going around it and hopefully doing a good walk at the same time. My guide for this walk was provided by the YHA whose website for the hostel has information on walks to do in the area and this one, entitled “Shakespeare’s Town”, took me down to the River Avon where I had tremendous views across the swollen river, but I felt the views were rather marred by an enormous red brick building that looked like a factory. I was disappointed by this scar on the landscape, however I was later embarrassed to discover that it is actually the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. I had crossed the old tramway bridge to enjoy the views in the early morning sunshine, but my directions told me to walk beside the river, so I returned across the bridge and walking through the wide grassy area of the Recreation Ground I followed the river, enjoying the views while the bells of Holy Trinity Church rang out, which reminded me that it was Sunday. At five to ten the bells stopped ringing and I continued walking beside the river past some weirs and an old mill.

After leaving the Recreation Ground and passing under a road bridge, the path quickly deteriorated becoming very muddy, but when I checked my route I realised that I should have crossed the river at the bridge, so I hastily retreated and hoped for better conditions underfoot on the other bank. When I found a tarmac path I was ecstatic and hopped along enjoying the good path but all too soon this ended and this path also became muddy. Slowly, I made my way beside the river with arable fields to my left as I headed out of the town eventually passing underneath an old railway bridge where the path was very wet and slippery, so I was thankful when the path emerged onto a grassy field where I was able to wipe the accumulated mud off my shoes. At the far end of the field I crossed a stream, Shottery Brook, and left the river to climb up to a side street, which led me along other roads to a housing development. A consequence of the building work was that the path I wanted, beside the Shottery Brook, was closed, so I had to take a diversion onto Hathaway Lane and Gainsborough Road before I could reach Hogarth Road at the northern end of the closed path. Quiet lanes brought me from there to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage where William Shakespeare courted his bride-to-be.

Unfortunately the house was closed for winter and I couldn’t see it, so I turned around and headed past several schools and colleges into the town centre. At that point I abandoned the directions provided by the YHA and instead I started using an “Official Historic Walking Guide” from the visit Stratford-upon-Avon website. This starts by the swan fountain in Bancroft Gardens, just outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, so I made my way back through the town to where I had been at the beginning of the day. The contrast was significant as there were now many more people and the early morning sunshine that I had previously enjoyed was no more only to be replaced by overcast skies. Undeterred, I set off on the historic walk that took me past many old, half-timbered buildings, until I reached Holy Trinity Church where I diverted off the route to have a walk around Avonbank Gardens before continuing along the prescribed route that took me back into the town centre to the very old looking building that is Shakespeare’s birthplace. This was an interesting walk from a historical point of view and ended with a pleasant stroll along the Stratford Canal, which was striking for its narrow locks, and brought me back to Bancroft Basin and the River Avon. Having done the Historic Walk I then proceeded to do the River Walk, which took me past the huge red brick Royal Shakespeare Theatre and through Avonbank Gardens to Holy Trinity Church, which was sadly not open so I couldn’t visit the grave of Shakespeare.

From there I crossed the river on the same bridge that I’d used earlier in the day and re-entered the Recreation Ground where there was considerably more people than there had been at the start of the day. With overcast skies overhead I walked through the park and back over the Tramway Bridge to my starting point. Although I now headed back to the youth hostel it was still quite early, even at this time of the year, with about an hour’s daylight left, so I decided I would do another one of the walks listed on the YHA website. This was an easy walk that took me around the village of Alveston including a visit to the River Avon and by the time I was returning to the hostel the light was beginning to fail. The walking this day was an interesting way to spend my New Year’s Day though I didn’t like the muddy bits. The weather was great in the morning and though it clouded over in the afternoon that didn’t spoil things. Two days later I thought I’d do the third walk listed on the YHA website, which initially took me along quiet lanes east of Stratford before ending up back in the town centre where, after a short spell on the canal, I headed north along a lane out of Stratford. Unfortunately, the weather was now not great with low clouds and a brisk wind, and by the time I was walking out of Stratford it was raining. The views that I had enjoyed earlier in the day east to the Cotswolds were now gone as I slowly climbed the hill and entered the Welcombe Hills Country Park. Despite the rain though, it was quite pleasant walking through the woodland but it was far too small.

At a junction I could see an imperceptible rise to the highest point in the Welcombe Hills, but there was nothing there worth visiting, so I turned right and headed towards a tall obelisk that is an impressive structure and stands out in the landscape though the person it honours is known to few people these days. On my walk back down the hill the rain became very heavy and where the ground steepened it was very muddy so keeping upright was very difficult. Eventually I came down out of the Welcombe Hills and after passing through Rowley Fields I left the muddy footpaths behind and reached the safety of a road that took me back into Stratford. The weather had worsened so much I decided to just return to the youth hostel and head straight home. I had planned other walks in the area, but it wasn’t worth it. It was enjoyable having a chance to explore Stratford-upon-Avon as it was a town that I had never visited before and though this wasn’t the most strenuous walk possible it was a great way to welcome in the New Year.