Love2Yurt

Take a leisurely stroll around the four-hectare Farthinghoe Nature Reserve (five minutes’ drive, or a 25-minute walk), where wildflowers bring colour to a landscape of woodlands and ponds. As well as assorted birdlife (including sparrowhawks) and nocturnal bats, the site is home to dragonflies and butterflies. Those who prefer their green surrounds on the manicured side should head to National Trust Stowe (25 minutes), where they can admire the work of 18th-century landscape gardener Capability Brown. Paths cross vast areas of grassland dotted with ponds, statuary and follies, including the Temple of British Worthies. Get up close and personal with all things Shakespearean at Stratford-upon-Avon (35 minutes). After visiting the half-timbered building where the Bard was born in 1564 (and his wife Anne Hathaway’s cottage), you can catch a performance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. When you’re all Barded out, check out the winged inhabitants in the rainforest area of Stratford Butterfly Farm.