The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is known across much of the World as William Shakespeare’s birthplace, and remains a major destination for tourism, with good reason. Of course, the town milks the Shakespeare theme to the limit, but in its own right it is one of the best preserved old towns in all of England, with many stunning ancient properties and a wonderfully quaint character. It simply oozes charm.  The town dates from a charter granted in 1196, but it was of course Shakespeare who changed the course of history here, culminating now in a town which has less than 30,000 inhabitants yet welcomes 2.5 million visitors per year. It loses…