Songfacts®:

• This was originally a short piece of pastoral music that was composed by Ronald Binge. Written in 6/8 time, it was recorded initially by the Mantovani Orchestra in 1951; called (apparently provisionally by its composer) The Man In The Street, it was then known as Andante Cantabile (in musical parlance moderate tempo in singing style).
  
  Shortly it was renamed Elizabethan Serenade - to herald the start of the new Elizabethan Age, which it did, although no one could have imagined this at the time. On the death of George VI, February 2, 1952, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, ascended the throne. Her coronation was June 2, 1953, a reign that would easily eclipse the reign of Elizabeth I, which itself lasted 44 years, 127 days.
• The sheet music was published by Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew of London.
• In 1961, this was republished as "Where The Gentle Avon Flows" with words by the poet and lyricist Christopher Hassall. Although the vocal version is quite well known, it is probably best rendered as an instrumental, and has been widely recorded as such. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for all above