I've lived in Coventry for over a year now, but still hadn't visited Stratford. We'd decided to wait til after summer so the town wasn't too crowded.

I didn't know what to expect when we got there. Someone in work told me that the town had an awful one-way system (which proved to be true. When the roads are busy, it made finding a car park slightly confusing). I'd read that the town wasn't as historic as people are led to believe and that it had a horrible modern shopping centre. The town actually has a lot of old timber buildings (many more that Warwick) and the concrete shopping centre is small and easy to avoid.

What the town does have of course, is an abundance of Shakespeare. Not just obvious things like his birthplace, but 'ye olde shoppes' with awful names. Within a few minutes of leaving the car park, we passed such delights as:

• Much Ado about Toys
• As You Like It (a sandwich bar)
• The Food of Love (a cafe)

There were a lot of sweet shops in the town, advertising various types of traditional or hand-made produce. We popped into a few of them, the first time to buy some fudge. Then later on to get some ice-cream. I also bought a bar of spiced chocolate, containing cinnamon and chilli. The chilli gives it a slight warmth, rather than firey heat.