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William Shakespeare, whose plays still enchant, grip, amuse, and moveaudiences 400 years after his death, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small Warwickshire village. This town, located in
central England, only 90 minutes northwest of London by train, is one
of England’s top tourist destinations. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, you
can easily spend a day visiting the various shrines. Consider staying
overnight if you want to see a play performed by the Royal Shakespeare
Company. From Stratford, local train service runs to Warwick, whose
top attraction is mighty Warwick Castle . Behind its
thick stone ramparts, this imposing hilltop fortress features beautiful
Victorian-era living rooms (with wax figures by the artisans at Madame
Tussauds), a creepy dungeon, and beautifully landscaped grounds.
The Cotswolds is a mostly rural area of bare rolling
hills, river valleys, and woodlands south of Stratford-upon-Avon and
west of Oxford. The region is known for its small, beautiful villages built
of honey-colored stone during the prosperous years of the medieval
wool trade. Although they have inevitably lost some of their soul to the
flourishing tourist trade that now supports them, you may still want to
pay Cotswold villages, such as Broadway, Chipping Campden, Bourton-
on-the-Water, and Cirencester, a visit. Tour the villages by car because
public transportation to the small villages is spotty. In these villages,
you can shop for hours (the Cotswolds has more antiques shops than
anywhere else in England) and then relax in an old-fashioned tea shop
for an afternoon cream tea. Hidcote Manor, one of the greatest of English
gardens, is a must for flower lovers visiting this region of England. You
may want to make Cheltenham, a lively county town laid out as a spa
in the early 19th century, your headquarters in the Cotswolds. You can
also visit beautiful Bath, the queen of spa towns and a picture of Regency
elegance. Located at the southern edge of the Cotswolds, Bath, with its
superb Georgian terraces and renowned Roman Baths Museum, deserves
at least a full day. Wells, England’s smallest cathedral city, and one of its
most beautiful, is an easy day trip from Bath.
Source:England Dummies by Donald Olson