The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Preston On Stour

Obviously not the original Shakespeare Theatre, but a similar touristy place as the on ein London - much less 'into the face' though. The shop has quite some nice items, the Café is ok and you can get up to the tower for a view. On the different floors costumes from plays are on display - worth checking them out. If you join a play expect to have a number of school classes in there.

Lovely church a must for William Shakespeare pilgrimage

It's Wheely good. A bespoke amusement

Nice lite walk around the whole church. Is on the water which is lovely too

The Church of St Mary which was built during the Imperial period. Some of the building material within the walls of the church is 14th century stone that has been reused. The church is located in Atherstone on Stour.

Clifford Manor has an early-20th-century garden surrounding an 18th- and 20th-century house. There is also an adjacent medieval moat. Early 20th-century arts and crafts gardens attributed to Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. Clifford Manor is situated at the south-east end of the single street which constitutes the village of Clifford Chambers, c 2km south of Stratford-upon-Avon. Clifford Chambers was situated in Gloucestershire until 1931, in which year it was transferred to Warwickshire. The c 3ha site comprises formal gardens, orchards and pools, and is bounded to the north-east by the River Stour. To the north-west the site is enclosed by a stone wall c 2.5m high which separates the pleasure grounds from the village street, while to the south-west hedges separate the site from a public footpath. To the south-east the site adjoins agricultural land. The site is generally level, with a slight slope towards the River Stour to the east and south. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES Clifford Manor is approached from the village street of Clifford Chambers to the north-west. The entrance is marked by a pair of C18 stone piers (listed grade II) surmounted by ball finials set in the stone boundary wall; the gateway forms a terminating feature to the village street. The piers support a pair of wrought-iron gates which give access to a formal gravelled drive which extends c 80m south-east to reach a gravelled forecourt below the north-west facade of the house. The north-east and south-west corners of the forecourt are marked by a pair of C19 urns on pedestals. PRINCIPAL BUILDING Clifford Manor (listed grade II*) stands on a level site to the south-west of the River Stour. The house is today (2000) approximately L-shaped on plan, with an entrance wing facing the village to the north-west and a north-east wing extending at right-angles to the entrance wing. A timbered south-east wing of medieval origin, parallel to the entrance wing, was rebuilt by Lutyens in 1918-19, and was demolished c 1950 (Tyack 1994). The early C18 two-storey entrance facade is constructed in brick under a hipped stone-tile roof, with projecting cross wings to the north-east and south-west. A centrepiece containing the front door below an ornamental niche is surmounted by a shallow pediment. The facade is lit by tall sash windows, with a pair of oeil-de-boef flanking the centrepiece on the first floor; stone quoins and a string course articulate the facade. The C18 facade concealed medieval timber construction; the north-west wing was restored by Lutyens in 1918-19 following extensive internal damage by fire. The north-east cross wing is similarly of C16 or C17 rendered timber construction under a tile roof; it was also restored by Lutyens in the early C20. The demolished south-east wing was of exposed half-timbered construction under a stone-tile roof, and comprised three storeys and an attic. The wing originated as the C15 monastic grange, and was entirely rebuilt and extended by Lutyens in 1918-19. Lutyens' proposal for a chapel linked to the north-east corner of the house by cloisters was not implemented (SBTRO). GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The formal and informal gardens lie to the north-west, west and south of the house. The area to the north-west is crossed from north-west to south-east by the drive. The drive is flanked to the south-west and north-east by simple lawns with mixed borders to the north-west. To the north-east an early C18 brick wall screens the buildings of the stables, while a similar brick wall to the south-west screens a paddock. A small timber door at the south-west corner of the forecourt gives access to the paddock. On a lawn to the north-east of the house is a mature mulberry tree said to be c 350 years old (Bagenal 1914). An early C20 photograph (Holme 1908) shows a rustic tree house designed by Tudor Owen and described as 'an amusing eccentricity' in this tree. From the forecourt a gravel walk extends south-west for c 30m to reach a shallow flight of stone steps which ascends to an C18 wrought-iron gate supported by a pair of contemporary rusticated stone piers surmounted by pineapple finials. Beyond this gate a stone-flagged walk flanked by mixed borders extends c 15m to an early C20 single-storey brick summerhouse. This was designed in an early C18 style by Dr Edward Douty in 1911 (CL 1928). A niche above the door contains a statue carved by Alec Miller (ibid) while the building is lit by tall sash windows and has stone ornamentation including quoins under a pyramid stone-tiled roof. To the south-east of the summerhouse is a rectangular lawn enclosed to the south-west by an early C20 brick wall which extends c 80m south-south-east to a pair of early C20 timber gates supported on rusticated piers with vase finials. The wall, which is articulated by brick piers which formerly supported urn and vase finials (missing, 2000), was designed by Douty in 1911. The lawn is enclosed to the north-west by a brick wall which screens the summerhouse walk. An open entrance, approached by a shallow flight of stone steps immediately north-east of the summerhouse gates, also leads to the south-west lawn. Below the south-west facade of the house a formal garden is partly enclosed by early C20 low stone walls and yew hedges. Early C20 photographs show the entrances to the garden marked by pairs of brick piers supporting single rustic-timber horizontal beams; these were removed c 1918 as part of Lutyens' improvements. The garden is laid out with geometric lawns and flower beds separated by stone-flagged walks which converge on a centrally placed stone sundial. To the north-east of this garden an C18 gateway set in a stone wall and supported by stone piers surmounted by ball finials leads to a flight of stone steps which descends to a stone-flagged terrace, formerly a courtyard enclosed to the south-east by Lutyen's early C20 half-timbered range. Early C20 photographs show this courtyard ornamented with a carved stone well-head (ibid) and a timber dovecote. To the south of the courtyard an approximately square lawn is enclosed to the south-east by a yew hedge which extends c 60m from north-east to south-west, parallel to the site of the south-east wing. At the centre of the south lawn is a circular stone-edged pool flanked by four symmetrically arranged clipped box domes. Below the yew hedge a grass slope and a flight of stone steps flanked by a pair of Irish yews descend to a grass terrace which extends c 60m from north-east to south-west. The terrace is retained by a drystone wall, below which is a mixed border. The south-east terraces overlook a pool which forms part of a medieval moat c 50m south-east of the house. Approximately L-shaped on plan, the moat is fed by the River Stour c 200m south-east of the house, with an outflow c 70m east-south-east of the house. The moat and the river enclose an approximately triangular island which is approached from the north-west by a footbridge. The island is laid to grass planted with scattered trees and shrubs. To the south the moat and island are screened by early C20 woodland, while at the southern corner of the site there is a further, early C20 brick and stone summerhouse under a pyramid tiled roof. Sir Robert Atkyns noted that Richard Dighton (inherited 1687) was possessed of a 'pleasant seat with delightful gardens on the River Stour' (Atkyns, quoted in CL 1928). The form of the early C18 gardens, presumably contemporary with the rebuilding of the north-west wing, is not known. By the mid C19 gardens were concentrated to the north-west of the house, with an orchard to the south-east (OS 1886); the 'delicious old garden' was described by Miss Kingsley in the English Illustrated Magazine (1866). Formal gardens were laid out around the house by Tudor Owen working for John Gratrix between 1903 and 1909. Dr and Mrs Douty made changes to these gardens between 1909 and 1911, including constructing the summerhouse south-west of the house (Bagenal 1914). Further early C20 development of the gardens including the construction of the south-east terraces overlooking the moat and the refinement of the formal gardens immediately south-west of the house is attributed to Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll in 1918-19 (Brown 1982). No planting plans by Jekyll have survived. KITCHEN GARDEN Early C20 kitchen gardens and glasshouses were created adjacent to Manor Cottages c 80m north of the house (outside the site here registered). An orchard shown immediately to the east of the south-east wing (OS 1914) was removed as part of Lutyens' improvements in 1918-19. The Home Farm (excluded from the site here registered), in separate private ownership since the mid C20, lies c 45m north-north-east of the house.

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, anciently of St. Peter the apostle, comprises chancel, nave, and tower. The church is of ashlar, except for the south wall of the nave; that wall is medieval in origin, containing masonry of several different builds, but there are no identifiable medieval features in it. Below one of the windows are signs of a former south doorway. There was also a north doorway with a porch, demolished in 1757. The tower was built in the late 15th century; it has a high plinth and three stages above, separated by moulded string-courses. The belfry stage is lit by pairs of cinquefoil pointed lights in two-centred heads; the roof has battlements and angle pinnacles; and the buttresses, straight on the east, diagonal on the west, rise to the level of the belfry floor. In 1753 James West began the rebuilding of the church. The work was done by Edward Woodward of Chipping Campden, and the result is 'remarkable as one of the earliest churches of the Gothic revival.' The chancel was rebuilt in 1753–4. It was given a roof of three small gabled bays, tiled and surrounded by a parapet broken on each side by a pinnacle. The segmental vaulted ceiling is plastered and divided into ribbed and painted panels, and has an enriched frieze and cornice. The east window, in the style of the early 14th century, and the north and south windows, in the style of the 15th, have on the inside enriched plaster architraves. The chancel is hardly narrower than the nave, and the chancel arch is almost the full width of the chancel. The interior of the chancel was said, in 1868, to indicate 'the careful munificence of a wealthy resident family at an earlier period than the ecclesiastical movement'. In 1756 the main doorway into the church was made through the west face of the tower, with a window like the side windows of the chancel above it. In 1757 the north wall of the nave was rebuilt, with two windows similar to the east window of the chancel. The late 15th-century roof of panelled timber with carved bosses was restored; it is covered with lead and surrounded by a parapet. Two windows were inserted in the south wall, to match those in the north. A gallery was built at the west end of the nave in front of the tower arch; on its front was placed the royal arms, carved and painted, of the period 1603–88. The chancel was restored in 1904,  when a small north door was added below the window. In the windows of the chancel and tower is a quantity of painted glass acquired by James West. The pieces in the east window, and some removed thence to the tower window in 1904, came from the Netherlands and Germany, and some of them are dated 1605 and 1632. The remaining glass in the tower window, mostly heraldic, is English, of the 16th century and later. The glass depicting heads, in the north and south windows of the chancel, allegedly taken from Evesham Abbey, is probably 17th-century and perhaps also from the Netherlands. The small cup-shaped font was made in the 18th century. The organ was given in 1895 by James Roberts West. In the chancel are two groups of mural monuments in marble to members of the West family, including one by Peter Mathias Vangelder (1800) and one by Richard Westmacott the younger (1838); also mural monuments to members of the Mariett family, and one with figures, brought apparently from St. Mary's chapel, Islington, to Sir Nicholas Kempe (d. 1624). There were three bells c. 1700; two by Henry Bagley, 1635, survive, and the third is by Abraham Rudhall, 1713. The plate includes a chalice with base and stem of c. 1500 and a remade bowl and paten-cover given by Sarah, wife of James West, 1747; also an Elizabethan chalice and paten-cover. The registers begin in 1540 and are virtually complete. The churchyard was enlarged in 1885 and 1926. In the early 18th century each landowner was responsible for a specified section of the fence round it. The fence was later replaced by a wall, and there are two pairs of large 18th-century stone gateposts with wrought iron gates. One pair opens on an avenue of ancient yews. There is said to have been a medieval chapel at Alscot, on the site of which Alscot Park was built. No documentary evidence of this has been found; the possibility that the moulded stones found at Alscot were brought from elsewhere is the stronger because of James West's antiquarian interests.

Alscot Park is an English Grade I listed Georgian country house in Preston on Stour, some 3 miles (5 km) south of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It was built in a Rococo Gothic style for James West in the early 18th century. The house itself is built of limestone ashlar to a T-shaped plan with a hipped slate roof and has a two-storey frontage of 7 bays. It stands in 4000 acres of park and farmland, which is Grade II listed and bisected by the River Stour. Several other associated buildings, such as stables and entrance lodges, are also listed. A number of former features of the estate, such as pleasure grounds, an obelisk and a Chinese pavilion have since been lost. In 1747 James West bought the manors, then secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the MP for St Albans. Pending his retirement from his final post as Secretary to the Treasury in 1762 he created the present house in two stages from an older house on the site. The north wing was remodelled in 1747 and the south wing added in 1762. Stables and a conservatory were added between 1762 and 1766.[3] A gothic entrance porch was later (1815 to 1820) designed and added to the south front. Gothic lodges at the Stratford Road entrance were built in 1838. James West the younger, the only son of West and his wife Sarah Steavens, heiress of a wealthy timber merchant, died in 1795, predeceasing his mother. Alscot Park thereby passed to James West the younger's son, James Robert West, who died in 1838 and has passed down in the West family until the present day (2018). Currently occupied by Emma Holman-West and her family, the estate has been developed to house residential properties, offices, studios and industrial space, winning the Bledisloe Gold Medal in 2011 from the Royal Agricultural Society for estate management.