In the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England

 “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

– William Shakespeare
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(in the West Midlands region of England) The market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, commonly known as just Stratford, is a civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, on the River Avon, 91 miles (~146 km) northwest of London, 22 miles (~35 km) southeast of Birmingham and eight miles (~13 km) southwest of Warwick. Most of the district lies within the historic county of Warwickshire, but the parish of Oldberrow and an area along the River Stour from north of Alderminster to south of Shipston-on-Stour belong to the historic county of Worcestershire, and an area south of the River Avon (Upper, or Warwickshire, Avon) and west of the Stour, including Welford and Upper Quinton, belongs to the historic county of Gloucestershire. In the vicinity of Alcester, an old village of Roman origin, are several large country houses open to the public; they include Ragley Hall and Coughton Court. Stratford is in the southern part of Warwickshire and occupies almost half of the county. (The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area on the edge of the Cotswolds.)

+ Stratford was originally inhabited by Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before the lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a weekly market in the town, giving it status as a market town. As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion. Between 1793 and 1816 the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was built, to link the Avon at Stratford with Birmingham. By the early 19th century, Stratford was a flourishing inland port, and an important center of trade, with many canal and river wharves along what is now Bancroft Gardens. Stratford is quite a popular tourist destination, due to its status as the birthplace and burial place of the poet and playwright William Shakespeare; it receives approximately 2.7 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

+ The author of some of the most quoted lines ever written in the English language, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564 and died here in 1616. Experiences linked to his life in this Tudor town range from the touristy (medieval recreations and Bard-themed tearooms) to the humbling (Shakespeare's modest grave in Holy Trinity Church) and the sublime (taking in a play by the world-famous Royal Shakespeare Company). 

+Stratford-upon-Avon is steeped in the history of its most famous resident, William Shakespeare. This Warwickshire country town not only contains the home where Shakespeare was born, but also the cottage where Anne Hathaway resided before their marriage, and the church where the couple is buried. (Stratford-upon-Avon also boasts Europe's largest butterfly farm.)