The Gower Memorial
Shakespeare seated since 1888, with Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Falstaff and Prince Hal standing loose on the ground as if among the visitors.
Drewphemism — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Drewphemism — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Michael Garlick — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Michael Garlick — CC BY-SA 2.0
Shakespeare does not stand on a plinth here; he sits, at ease, on a tall pedestal while four of his characters stand loose on the grass around him as though they had walked off the stage: Hamlet brooding, Lady Macbeth wringing her hands, a fat laughing Falstaff and Prince Hal lifting the crown. This is the Gower Memorial, made by Lord Ronald Gower and unveiled in 1888, then moved to its present spot in 1933 after the 1926 fire destroyed the old theatre it stood beside. It is Grade II* listed, though nobody needs to know that to spend ten happy minutes photographing the four figures - the best Shakespeare pictures you will take in town, with no queue and no ticket. The gardens themselves are plain: open lawns between Bridge Street, the River Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, laid over the town's old canal wharves. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal ends here in the Bancroft Basin, always lined with brightly painted narrowboats, sometimes one of them selling ice cream or coffee through a hatch. From the bank you get the classic view of the theatre across the water, the pedestrian Tramway Bridge, the fifteenth-century stone Clopton Bridge and swans that fear no one. From mid-March to the end of October the short river cruise leaves from this bank: about half an hour downstream past Holy Trinity Church and into open country, roughly £7 to £11 a head, boats every 15 to 30 minutes, no booking. Rowing boats go from the Swan's Nest boathouse across the bridge for around £11 per person an hour, motor boats around £40 per half hour. Children like all of it - the swans, the boats, the room to run - and the ground is dead flat, fine for pushchairs and wheelchairs. Nothing closes and nothing is charged; public toilets are a short walk away towards Bridgefoot. Timing matters. On summer-holiday weekends the lawns fill with picnickers, buskers and ice-cream vans, and during the Shakespeare Birthday celebrations in late April this is the noisy heart of town. In winter it is grey and empty, the boats gone, and it becomes simply a handsome way to walk from the car park to the theatre. Call it what it is: not a destination in itself but the natural starting point of any walk through Stratford and the best place to sit for an hour after Shakespeare's Birthplace - a busy town park, not a botanical garden to plan a day around.
Shakespeare seated since 1888, with Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Falstaff and Prince Hal standing loose on the ground as if among the visitors.
The end of the Stratford canal, always lined with painted narrowboats, sometimes one selling ice cream through a hatch.
The classic view of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre with Tramway Bridge, the old Clopton Bridge and the swans.
Bridgefoot, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6YY
Royal Shakespeare TheatreOne of the best views of Stratford is not from the riverbank but above it: 32 me3 minutes walk4.6
Stratford Butterfly FarmFive minutes from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, you cross the footbridge over t4 minutes walk4.6
Shakespeare's New PlaceThere is no house. Know that before you walk down Chapel Street: the home Shakes5 minutes walk4.4
Guild ChapelIn the Stratford corporation accounts for 1563-64 there is a small entry paying 5 minutes walk4.8
Shakespeare's Schoolroom & GuildhallThis building does not admit visitors before eleven in the morning on any day of5 minutes walk4.8With children or little time, the half-hour cruise is cheap, fun and needs no booking, but you see the same views for free from the gardens and Tramway Bridge; without children you can skip it without regret and walk the bank to Holy Trinity Church instead.
Honestly not as a destination: boats stop after October, the lawns are grey and wet and daylight is short. You will pass through anyway on the way to the theatre, so take your photo with the memorial and move on.