STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, England - On a cloudy winter’s day, visitors stream into what was once William Shakespeare’s childhood home in Stratford-upon-Avon and the nearby Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, family residence of the bard’s wife.

Hathaway’s cottage is one of the settings for the BAFTA and Oscar best film contender Hamnet, and the movie’s success is drawing a new wave of tourists to Shakespeare sites in the town in central England.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace is the house the young William once lived in and where his father worked as a glove maker, while Hathaway’s cottage is where he would have visited his future wife early in their relationship.

Typically, around 250,000 visitors, from the UK, Europe, the United States, China and elsewhere, walk through the locations each year, according to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The charity looks after Shakespeare heritage sites, which also include Shakespeare’s New Place, the site of the Stratford home where the bard died in 1616.

Visitors are flocking in in 2026 thanks to Hamnet, the film based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, which gives a fictional account of the relationship between Shakespeare and Hathaway, also known as Agnes, and the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet in 1596.

“Visitor numbers have increased by about 15 to 20 per cent across all sites since the film was released back in January. I think that will only continue as we go throughout the year,” Mr Richard Patterson, chief operating officer for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said.

“They particularly want to look (at) Anne Hathaway’s cottage and the specifics around how the family engaged in the spaces and the landscape in and around the cottage... you can see why he would have been inspired.”

Hamnet has 11 nominations at the Feb 22 British BAFTA awards, including best film and leading actress for Jessie Buckley, who plays Agnes. It also has eight Oscar nominations, with Buckley seen as the front runner to win best actress.

Hamnet is set...