Stratford Upon Avon Angling Association
Manor Farm
Stratford Angling Associations most well known and iconic river Avon water and the venue for the 1981 Angling world championships.
Manor Farm can be found at the end of Luddington Road just outside Stratford, a very picturesque stretch of the river Avon consisting of 4 meadows stretching approximately 1.5 miles offering a wide variety of swims. Most swims are accessible although there are few platforms (with one or two exceptions) to fish from there are plenty of places to get your seat / box to the edge of the water although typically you might prefer to stand in the shallow margins for a better angling position
The Gully (run off from the weir, lock cutting to the left)
At the start of meadow 1 is the gulley, a famous stretch of water the first few pegs of which are fast and fairly shallow with a gravel bottom and plenty of white water in the run off from the weir, the very end peg has the entrance to the lock on its left, this is a prolific area early season and keepnets are discouraged, the water flows into a series of bends which provide good stick float conditions and when the river is too high to fish elsewhere some great slow backwaters.
Please note: Luddington weir and the island / lock to the left of manor farm are not Stratford Angling Association water and come under the UANT (Upper Avon Navigation Trust) licence scheme.
Once you get past the pumphouse your into the second meadow which is around 200 metres long, pretty straight and uniform in depth and pace, not the most prolific stretch but its comfortable fishing and provides good sport.
right at the end of the meadow there is a cattle drink just before some fencing beloved of dog walkers (and cows) that provides access to an stream on the far bank that can provide some good fish, immediately downstream there is a caravan site (Weston Farm) over on the far bank which also provides fishing to caravan club members and can be busy in the summer.
At the start of meadow 3 there is a straight for a hundred yards which is pretty consistent along its length and there is a caravan / camping site on the opposite bank (Weston on Avon) which usually has 1 or 2 people fishing during the summer months ...
A little further the river bends, shallows up and speeds up, you can see from the picture below taken when the river was a foot lower than normal and clear there is a fair amount of structure across the far bank to the middle of the river, the stick float down the side and the middle might be preferred here.
Once your round the bend the river widens and gets a bit deeper giving you a few more options to fish over the far side of the river.
Directions & Parking
From Stratford take the Luddington road past the racecourse keep on driving in a straight line for a mile or so until you come to a sharp right hand bend, the entrance to manor farm is the 5 bar gate on this bend,(CV37 9SJ) there is no parking or unloading at the gate itself so keep driving up the hill and park on the grass carpark just past the last house, its around 100 yards from the bend in the road, walk back down the hill to the entrance gate, go down the track and the manor farm stretch is to your right.
If you are fishing the 2nd / 3rd or 4th meadow of Manor Farm and want to avoid a long walk you can park at Sandfields Farm by driving down the Sandfields farm entrance just past the grass car park and continuing to the end of the road, turn left and park up, pop through the gate and walk down to the river across the meadow (you will see the old wooden pump house in front of you.
Non Fishy Facts
John Hathaway decendant of Anne Hathaway (Shakespeares wife) was the tenant Farmer at Manor Farm for around 70 years in the 18th century.
The river Avon was the first, in England, to be canalised, in about 1641. This enabled water transport of agricultural produce from Stratford to Bristol and imported goods to reach the Midlands.
Manor Farm in Luddington was the site of a very rare circular lock. This had two functions. The first was to enable shallow draft vessels, travelling up the river to Stratford, to turn through 90º to negotiate the weir. The second was to enable deep draft vessels to tranship goods to lighter vessels, which could navigate the shallow waters upstream. Then the larger vessel could be turned through 180º to return towards Bristol. The site of this lock can still be seen today. The navigation fell into disuse about 1857, because of competition by the railways, and was only made fully navigable again, after the Second World War, when the Upper Avon Navigation was formed.
There are no shops or pubs in Luddington, your nearest pub would be the Four Alls in Welford on Avon a mile up the road , a nice pub recently refitted it's a bit pricey but has a superb riverside setting.
The fourth meadow offers some stunning scenery and a more consistent feel to it with a little more depth, as with all rivers it doesn't get fished a lot but you may be well rewarded if you made it down there for a fish, certainly if you entered a match on manor farm you would prefer to be drawn down in the 4th meadow than the 2nd or 3rd.
Dave Thomas won the 1981 world championships down in meadow 4, this is the spot 45 years on !