Nash's House and New Place
Chapel Street Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 6EP
Nash's House, named after Thomas Nash, the first husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter (yes the Shakespeare connections are somewhat stretched at times), is an excellently preserved Tudor building with the ground floor furnished as it would have been in Nash's day. Next door are the foundations of New Place, which was the second biggest house in Stratford in its day and was bought by William Shakespeare after establishing himself as a playwright. Shakespeare lived at New Place when he was not in London and died there in 1616 – the house was demolished in 1759. A “big dig” is currently taking place on the site of New Place (as featured on Channel 4's Time Team) with archaeologists hoping to discover more about his former home and his latter years. An Elizabethan knot garden occupies the rest of the grounds – a beautiful, colourful and often tranquil place, and a bit of a hidden treasure in the town.
