Stratford-upon-Avon Travel Forum

We're thinking of staying in the Holiday Inn in Stratford for a couple of nights. Any comments on the hotel?
Also would appreciate any suggestions of places to go with Stratford as a home base. We are two adults traveling with two 12-year-olds. We think
warwick castle would be good and maybe Alton Towers. Any ideas on these or other places? We will have a hired car.

Will you have a car?

Duh! Yes - sorry you will I see.
Well - Google map the place and see if the towns of the Cotswolds meet your fancy.
Towns such as Broadway, Chipping Campden, etc are all lovely places to visit. Cotswold Wildlife Park is great for youngsters (http://www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk/) assuming you like animals!
Warwick Castle is certainly worth seeing - check out the web site as they often hold events during the summer.
Altn Towers is a fair trek from there and is a fairly typical theme park/roller coaster/thrill rides place which will take a whole day - one which you may prefer to spend exploring the countryside or surrounding areas instead.

Warwick, although tourist-oriented, is a truly excellent castle and worth its expensive entrance. Allow plenty of time to explore it ..at least 3 hours. Warwick itself is a lovely little town (see VT page).

http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/

If the kids are into theme parks then Alton Towers is the most well-known in the UK. It is also pretty expensive. The gardens are lovely too: it is set in the grounds of an old house (now in ruins). www.altontowers.com

A smaller theme park within reasonable driving distance of Stratford is Drayton Manor Park:

http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/

If the kids like zoos then Twycross is excellent especially for primates and monkeys:

http://www.twycrosszoo.com/

Charlecote Manor is a lovely Tudor house not too far away:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-charlecotepark

You are also near enough to the Cotswolds to do a day tour around the villages. http://www.visitcotswolds.co.uk/ You could take in the Roman villa at Chedworth:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-chedworthromanvilla.htm

If you are into chocolate you could also visit Cadburyworld in Bourneville,a suburb of Birmingham:

http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/CadburyWorld/Pages/CadburyWorld.aspx

or the superb Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, which warrants a whole-day trip and gives a real idea of what life was like in the Black Country not so very long ago (make sure you try the chips, and the beer, and go on the canal boat ride!):

http://www.bclm.co.uk/

You are basically spoilt for choice!

http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp?database=B

will give you routes, distance and estimated travel times (but allow a bit longer for navigation and potential traffic congestion).

Holiday Inns are a standard UK chain. Nothing out of the ordinary but perfectly ok.

Fully endorse Leics' answer - absolutely spot-on as usual.

I do think, though, that with only 2 days in such a beautiful area (assuming you will want to see Stratford itself as well as any other places nearby) that a whole day out at a theme park may leave you wishing you had more time for the sorts of places you can't see anywhere else.
For information, there is a lovely walk/cycle trail from Stratford along the river and then along a path called the "Greenway".
www.sustrans.org.uk/webfiles/Day%20Rides/StratfordGreenway.pdf - or Google "Stratford Greenway" - it's a 5-mile path that connects from the river path through the park/weir in Stratford, along the Greenway itself to Long Marston - going past the Stratford Race-Track. There are cafes at both ends (again in old railway carriages) and it is a lovely chill-out couple or three hours.

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/webfiles/Day%20Rides/StratfordGreenway.pdf

is that better?

Hi!

stratford upon avon, it's a must see in England.
Visit the Shakespeare's House, teddy bear meseum...
along the way to shakespeare's house stop by jane austen's house since you'll hire a car.
for further reading:
www.wikitravel.com
www.wikipedia.com
happy travel

I have to say that if I was statying in Stratford I would a) explore Stratford and b) spend w hole day exploring Warwick castle and Warwick itself, with perhaps a drive round/walk in some nearby countryside afterwards if the weather is decent.

You can go to theme parks anywhere in the world. I would not waste a day in one, personally.

I would thoroughly recommend the Black Country Museum though..best chips (fries) in the country and a brilliant place for older children.

I would agree that Stratford itself and Warwick are must-sees. The Cotswolds are only a short drive away.

I'm afraid the Teddy Bear Museum is no longer in Stratford, though.

The Black Country museum is good, too, though the 'lardy cake' (nicer than it sounds, honest)in the bakery there is not up to the standard of my local baker!

On the hotel. I haven't stayed in that Holiday Inn, but from my experience of others in that chain, the accommodation is usually fine, but you will do better to eat elsewhere - there is plenty of choice in Stratford.

Agree about not eating in the Holiday Inn; plenty of better places.

Am not surprised the lardy cake was not up to scratch. It's not a Black Country thing at all. You should have tried the faggots and peas! :-)

I know I should have tried the faggots and peas - it's just that they reminded me too much of school dinner meatballs, so I chickened out and had soup for lunch. The Black Country Museum is great, though.

Dudley Zoo is another good place to go. There is a castle in the middle.

Trust me, they taste absolutely nothing like meatballs (school dinner or otherwise). A hefty meal for midday though, better suited to a chilly winter's evening imo.

So: the BCLM can offer your kids: a canalboat ride into the dark heart of a hillside, superb chips (fries), old-fashioned sweeties and cakes, a trip down a drift coal mine, old-fashioned shops and houses (original, re-built on site, all with a 'real' person inside explaining things), tram and possibly trolley-bus rides, a transport museum, a Victorian fun-fair (swingboats, helter-skelter, coconut shy etc etc), pigs and chickens in the back gardens, chainmakers making chains in a forge....and more. And for you: the pub, with sawdust on its floor and proper beer.

Then you drive up the road and go to Dudley Castle and zoo:

http://www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/home.htm

So that's your day sorted out! :-))