Shakespeare's Country

A tour of Stratford-upon-Avon's houses and hamlets, stomping ground of a young William Shakespeare.

There's little room in this singularly Shakespeare-themed travelogue for any sights that don't have a whiff of the Bard about them. The young poet's childhood home on Henley Street, Anne Hathaway's Shottery cottage - the scene of his courtship - and his mother's house in Wilmcote all feature, as do Stratford's many pretty timber-framed buildings: "the homes of Shakespeare's intimate friends".

This single-minded production makes just one detour - to visit the house built by the grandparents of John Harvard - founder of the Ivy League university. Also featured are various memorials, including the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and the idyllic surrounding countryside: "the direct source of much of William Shakespeare's inspiration". It was produced by Islington-based Gainsborough Pictures, the company behind Hitchcock's The Lodger (1926) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) among other British film favourites.