Stratford upon Avon, United Kingdom Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Despite its worldwide fame, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON is, at heart, an unassuming market town with an unexceptional pedigree. A charter for Stratford's weekly market was granted in the twelfth century, a tradition continued to this day, and the town later became an important stopping-off point for stagecoaches between London, Oxford and the north. Like all such places, Stratford had its clearly defined class system and within this typical milieu John and Mary Shakespeare occupied the middle rank, and would have been forgotten long ago had their first son, William , not turned out to be one of the greatest … more »