DeFacto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare's town on the Avon, 10 miles north of the Cotswold edge: the station from Birmingham and London, the Stagecoach buses over the hills to Chipping Campden, the 50 to Shipston, and the Monarch's Way south towards the hills.
- Nearest station
- Stratford, about 10 minutes' walk from the centre; frequent trains from Birmingham Moor Street, hourly from Marylebone
- Parking
- Park and ride, Bishopton Lane (CV37 0RJ) by the A46: over 700 spaces, a bus every 15 minutes, 7.30am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6.55pm Sundays
- Best time
- Spring for the Birthday Celebrations and Hidcote; term weekdays for the houses
- When it's busy
- The Saturday nearest 23 April for Shakespeare's birthday parade, summer weekends and school holidays, and the Mop Fair in October
About Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a Warwickshire market town on a flat river, and the Cotswolds are the line of hills to the south of it: the escarpment at Meon Hill, Mickleton and Ilmington, 10 miles (16km) away. Many people come for Shakespeare and never find out that the Cotswold Way starts half an hour's drive away at Chipping Campden. It is the northern gateway, and the easiest one from Birmingham.
Why come through here
The station is on the west side of town, about ten minutes' walk from the river. From Birmingham Moor Street there are about 62 trains a day, the fastest in 32 minutes. From London Marylebone Chiltern runs about one train an hour, 2 hours 6 minutes at best, direct or with one change. Stratford Parkway, by the park and ride on the northern edge of town, is on the same line. The Cotswold buses leave from the town centre stop by the NatWest bank, some from the railway station: Stagecoach's 1, 1A, 2 and 2A cross the hills to Chipping Campden, Blockley and Moreton-in-Marsh station a few times a day between them, the 1 and 1A also calling at Broadway, and the 50 runs to Shipston-on-Stour in about 20 to 25 minutes and on to Chipping Norton, several times a day. The 28 goes to Evesham. The 1A and 2A do not run on Sundays and we have not confirmed a Sunday pattern on the others. The times are on the buses page.
By car Stratford is on the A46 from the M40 at junction 15, and the A3400 south by Shipston is the road to the Fosse Way and Stow. Leave the car at the park and ride on Bishopton Lane (CV37 0RJ), by the A46 north of the town: more than 700 spaces, a bus every 15 minutes for most of the day, 10 to 12 minutes to the centre, running from 7.30am to a last bus back at 7.30pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 6.55pm on Sundays. Warwickshire made the parking free for the whole of August 2026. The standard charge and fare are on the council's page and were not confirmed when we checked on 27 October 2026.
A day in the town
Shakespeare is the day, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's houses are the way to do it. Shakespeare's Birthplace on Henley Street, where he was born in 1564, is open daily from 10am to 5pm with last entry at 4.30pm. An adult ticket is £25 online or £27 on the door (2026), includes New Place Gardens on Chapel Street, and lasts 12 months. Anne Hathaway's Cottage at Shottery, a mile west, is £5 more with the Birthplace ticket. Walk down Chapel Street past the Guild Chapel and the school to Holy Trinity Church on the river, where he was baptised and buried, then back along the Avon to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which has a Riverside Cafe on the ground floor and its Rooftop Restaurant on the third. The town's hotels, river cruises and theatres are on Shakespeare's England (opens in a new tab), the official guide to Warwickshire.
Into the Cotswolds from here
The hills start at the Warwickshire border. The edge villages are Ilmington, the last village in Warwickshire before the climb, with a Norman church full of Robert Thompson's carved mice, and Mickleton, at the foot of the escarpment below Hidcote and Kiftsgate Court, the two gardens on the hill above. The 5-mile walk from Mickleton up past both gardens and the 5.9-mile loop from Ilmington over Ebrington Hill are the first Cotswold walks out of Stratford. Both start about 15 minutes' drive away. The Monarch's Way, the 589-mile path based on Charles II's escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, passes through Stratford on its way south into the Cotswolds.
The day loop by car is the one the buses draw: the A3400 to Shipston, the lanes to Ilmington, up the hill to Hidcote and Kiftsgate, down into Chipping Campden for lunch and Dover's Hill, then the A44 by Broadway Tower and the A46 home. By bus, ride the morning 1 or 2 to Chipping Campden, walk the loop over Dover's Hill, and come back on an afternoon bus. Or take the 50 to Shipston for the walk by the Stour to Barcheston.
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When to come
The Birthday Celebrations on the Saturday nearest 23 April (25 April in 2026; 24 April expected in 2027, to be confirmed) fill the streets with a parade and the hotels for the weekend. Summer weekends and school holidays are the busiest months in the houses. A weekday in term time is quiet by comparison. The Mop Fair takes the town centre in October, with the Runaway Mop later in the month (23 and 24 October in 2026) and road closures both times. Hidcote and Kiftsgate, the reasons to go up the hill, are at their best from May to July.
Last verified 27 October 2026 by our editors
Part of
The North Cotswolds
The high wolds between Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water: the Fosse Way towns, the Windrush villages, the Slaughters and the escarpment at Broadway.
Walks in and around Stratford-upon-Avon
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Chipping Campden and Dover's Hill
Walk · Starts in Chipping Campden · 3 hrs, 30 mins · Circular
A 4.5-mile (7.2km) circular walk from the Market Hall in Chipping Campden, two and a half to three and a half hours, moderate with steep sections. It climbs the Cotswold Way to Dover's Hill, home of the Olimpicks, and drops through Lynches Wood; a 3-mile version skips the climbs.
Getting to Stratford-upon-Avon
- By train
- Stratford-upon-Avon station: about 62 trains a day from Birmingham Moor Street (32 minutes at best), about hourly from London Marylebone (2 hours 6 minutes at best, direct or with one change).
- By bus
- Stagecoach 1, 1A, 2 and 2A to Chipping Campden, Blockley and Moreton-in-Marsh station, a few a day between them; the 50 to Shipston-on-Stour and Chipping Norton; the 28 to Evesham.
- By car
- The A46 from M40 junction 15; the A3400 south to Shipston and the Fosse Way. About 12 miles (20km) to Chipping Campden, 17 miles (27km) to Moreton-in-Marsh.
- Parking
- Park and ride, Bishopton Lane (CV37 0RJ): 700 spaces, a bus every 15 minutes, 7.30am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6.55pm Sunday; free parking through August 2026.
| Mickleton | 9.3 mi |
|---|---|
| Ilmington | 9.9 mi |
| Shipston-on-Stour | 11.8 mi |
| Chipping Campden | 12.4 mi |
| Broadway | 16.2 mi |
| Moreton-in-Marsh | 16.8 mi |
Places near Stratford-upon-Avon
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Chipping CampdenA wool town with a High Street of honey stone, a 1627 Market Hall, a great wool church and almshouses, and the start of the Cotswold Way on its doorstep.
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IlmingtonA Warwickshire village of ironstone houses under the Ilmington Downs, at the northern tip of the Cotswolds, with eleven carved mice in its Norman church, a morris tradition going back centuries and two pubs on its greens.
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MickletonThe big village at the foot of the Cotswold edge, 3 miles north of Chipping Campden, with Hidcote and Kiftsgate on the hill above it, a Grade I church and the home of the Pudding Club.
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Shipston-on-StourA small Warwickshire market town on the Stour, named after a sheep wash, with Georgian inns round its square, a church rebuilt by G. E. Street, three free car parks, a level walk to Burmington and buses to Stratford and Moreton.