STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

Shakespeare was born here, buried here, and his ghost basically runs the tourism board. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre sits on the Avons edge like a modern temple to iambic pentameter, Holy Trinity Church holds the man himself beneath its flagstones, and Anne Hathaways Cottage is the thatched-roof postcard that launched a thousand school trips. But Stratford is more than a literary theme park — Bancroft Gardens fill with picnickers in summer, narrow-boats glide along the canal, and the town has a genuine warmth that survives the tourist crowds.