Anne Hathaway's Cottage Shottery - Britain All Over Travel Guide

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery, near Stratford-upon-Avon

What to See | Access | Museums in the Midlands

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is a major tourist attraction in the English Midlands.

The family home of Anne Hathaway’s father, Richard, the large farmhouse and gardens are located in the village of Shottery about a mile from the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. The house remained within the Hathaway family and its descendants until 1892 when it was purchased by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

The cottage

What to See

The house today contains many household items and furnishings from Anne’s day. The extensive gardens include a sculpture trail and tree garden, with sculptures inspired by Shakespeare’s plays and trees mentioned in his work, a traditional orchard, a cottage garden, and a peaceful woodland walk. In a specially-made willow cabin, visitors can listen to selected sonnets by the great poet.

The gift shop is popular with souvenir-hunting foreign tourists and includes books, tea, ceramics and Shakespeare-themed goods.

The garden includes plants and trees mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays

Anne Hathaway

Little is known about Anne Hathaway herself. She married William Shakespeare in 1582, when she was 26 and William 18 and while she was pregnant with their first child. The couple had three children in all during their marriage. Shakespeare spent much of his adult life away from Anne in London, but returned to Stratford in later life to live with his wife again, leaving her his “second-best bed” in his will – a detail much debated by scholars and other writers searching for clues into the state of their relationship.

The thatched cottage is set in a lovely English garden

Access – Getting There

The house is off Cottage Lane in the village of Shottery. Shottery is east of Worcester on the A422 and A46. It is due south of Birmingham on the A435 and then east on the A46. From the M40 motorway take junction 15.

22 Cottage Lane
Shottery
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 9HH

Tel: 01789 204016