The tropical flight hall
Hundreds of free-flying butterflies around a waterfall and fish pools in rainforest humidity.
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Five minutes from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, you cross the footbridge over the Avon and step out of grey England into a rainforest running at Gulf-in-May temperatures: air thick with humidity, a splashing waterfall, fish-filled pools, and hundreds of tropical butterflies flying free, quite happy to settle on your shoulder or your child's hat. The heat shock at the door is half the fun. Leave your coat before you go in and expect your camera lens to fog for the first two minutes. The farm has run since 1985 in heated glasshouses, bills itself as the UK's largest tropical butterfly house, and is a little bigger than the name suggests. After the flight hall comes the Discovery Zone, where chrysalises hang in a glass emerging case and, with luck, a butterfly unfolds in front of you; then Minibeast Metropolis, which the farm calls one of the largest invertebrate collections in the UK, with leafcutter ants marching along ropes above your head, beetles, spiders and jewel-coloured poison-dart frogs. It ends in Rainforest Realm, built around a replica cenote, the natural sinkhole-well the Maya held sacred, with a water cascade and a deep pool where a spectacled caiman basks behind glass alongside rat snakes, an axolotl and a basilisk lizard; replica Maya artefacts turn up throughout the farm. The whole loop takes an hour to ninety minutes. Paths are level and hard-surfaced, fine for pushchairs apart from a few metres of gravel at the entrance, and the accessible toilet in the Discovery Zone has baby-changing. There is no cafe inside, only chilled drinks, ice creams and sweets in the gift shop; the restaurants are across the river. Adults without children may find it small for the ticket price. With children between about three and ten it is one of the best hours in Stratford, especially when it rains. Entry is £11.95 for adults and £8.95 for children, with a £34.95 family ticket that saves a little on a party of four; under-threes go free. Advance booking is not compulsory, but in the summer holidays and at weekends online bookers and season-ticket holders take priority over walk-ins, so book the day before. It opens every day of the year except Christmas Day, 10:00 to 18:00 from 29 March to the end of September, to 17:30 in March and the first three weeks of October, and to 17:00 through the winter, with last entry between half an hour and ninety minutes before closing depending on the month.
Hundreds of free-flying butterflies around a waterfall and fish pools in rainforest humidity.
In the Discovery Zone chrysalises hang behind glass and, with luck, a butterfly unfolds in front of you.
Leafcutter ants cross ropes above your head, plus poison-dart frogs, spiders, then a spectacled caiman in the Maya cenote.
Swan's Nest Lane, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 7LS
Royal Shakespeare TheatreOne of the best views of Stratford is not from the riverbank but above it: 32 me3 minutes walk4.6
Bancroft Gardens & Gower MemorialShakespeare does not stand on a plinth here; he sits, at ease, on a tall pedesta4 minutes walk4.5
Shakespeare's New PlaceThere is no house. Know that before you walk down Chapel Street: the home Shakes6 minutes walk4.4
Guild ChapelIn the Stratford corporation accounts for 1563-64 there is a small entry paying 6 minutes walk4.8
Shakespeare's Schoolroom & GuildhallThis building does not admit visitors before eleven in the morning on any day of7 minutes walk4.8With children aged roughly three to ten, yes without hesitation: butterflies land on them, and the ants, frogs and caiman stretch the visit into an enjoyable hour and a half, with pushchairs rolling through easily. A couple without children will see everything in forty minutes and may feel that close to £24 for two is steep; treat it as a rainy-day plan rather than a destination.
Not compulsory, but in the school holidays and at weekends online bookings and season-ticket holders take priority over walk-ins when it gets busy. Book on their site the day before: the price is the same and you skip the wait at the door. The farm itself suggests the 10:00 opening slot, or arriving after 15:00, for a quieter visit.