Anne Hathaway's cottage is actually in Shottery, a hamlet just over a mile from the town center of Stratford-Upon-Avon.  It was the childhood home of Shakespeare's wife Anne, the daughter of a yeoman farmer, Richard Hathaway.  Richard died in 1481 leaving Anne an inheritance upon her marriage.  The marriage to Shakespeare took place in November the following year.

The term 'cottage' hardly does justice to the Hathaway family home, which, by standards of the day, was a substantial residence of a well-to-do farmer.  It appears to have been built in two stages.  The lower part, adjoining the road, has been dated to the early 1460s.  The original kitchen with it's existing stone floor and fireplace, is next to the road. During the early seventeenth century, when the house was owned by Anne's brother, Bartholomew, a taller section was added to the house at the orchard end.  This brought the house to its current 12 rooms.

The house remained in the Hathaway family for several generations.  In 1892, the Shakespeare Trust purchased the property, but allowed the last Hathaway descendant, Mary Baker, to continue living here until her death in 1899.  With the purchase of the property came various items of family furniture, including the bed upon which Anne was born, and the "2nd best bed" Shakespeare had willed to her upon his death, and the "settle" upon which he courted Anne.

During Shakespeare's day, the cottage was known as Newlands Farm, and had over ninety acres of land attached to it.  Today the property retains it's own beautiful, old-fashioned, English garden, with an orchard adjoining.  With the backdrop of a beautiful countryside, it is a perfect setting.