Great Haywood to Shugborough Hall
A north Staffordshire walk with stories blowing in every wind - this place is as intriguing as it is scenic. Shugborough Hall is a National Trust property and ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield, the most famous of whom was Patrick, the photographer, who died in 2005. The mansion dates back to 1693 and stories burst from under every frill and doily. Great Haywood is a 'T' junction in the water-road, where the Staffs & Worcester Canal meets the Trent & Mersey Canal, and the North meets the Midlands. As narrowboats pass by on the canal, dialects teeter together giving this place a gentle heart of its own. Come expecting refinery and heritage from Shugborough, all the romance and colour of the canals and a perfect postcard landscape in which to escape.    
Walk 02 Great Haywood to Shugborough Hall
Approx distance: 4 miles Staffs & Worcestershire/Trent & Mersey Canals
Start & Finish: Great Haywood Junction Grid ref: SJ994229
The photogenic canal junction is a popular mooring spot for narrowboats and home to one of Anglo Welsh's hireboat bases.
 Follow the canal past Anglo Welsh, crossing the small aqueduct over the river Trent. Residential boats moor on the right and from here to Swivel Bridge is a popular mooring for visiting boats. About a mile into the walk, the canal suddenly takes on the appearance of a lake as you arrive at Tixall Wide (see 'Did you know?'). This waterscape, as still as a millpond in winter, transforms with holiday buzz in the summer season as boaters hog the idyllic moorings. Just beyond picturesque Tixall Lock, come off the canal at Bridge 106 turning left onto the road.
Be wary of traffic as it narrows over a bridge. Follow the road over the railway until you reach Milford Common where the entrance gate to Shugborough estate is on your left. (Cannock Chase begins straight on) Once in the estate, just follow the road leading past Park Farm to Shugborough Hall. Beyond the Hall, Essex Bridge, a packhorse bridge with low parapets and passing places, crosses the river Trent again leading back to Great Haywood and the canal. The story has it that the ladies of Shugborough in the 18th century didn't relish the uncouth idea of riding their own horses over the narrow packhorse bridge to church. So they had a new wider bridge built to carry them in carriages, in all their finery, over the river to the church - mere yards away!
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Where to stay
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Our guidebooks are packed full of ideas, colourful photos, and some of the best highlights we've found along the canals...
Find out more >> Did you know?
Tixall Wide
Follow the Staffs & Worcs Canal southwards and you stumble upon a widening in the water with the appearance more of a lake than a canal. In the 18th century, Clifford Thomas, of the once nearby Tixall Hall, loathed the idea of a 'stinking' canal (ironically the motorway of his time) scarring his view, and insisted on this disguise. His resistance to a meeting with the new simply adds another story, and a pretty scene, to this fantastic walk. Fact file
Train info
Nearest train: Stafford
Bus info
National Rail Enquiries T:08457 484950 Traveline T:0871 2002233
Tourist info office: Stafford T:01785 619619 tic@staffordbc.gov.uk
Shugborough Hall National Trust Hall, gardens & park farm with rare breeds March to 29 October Daily 1100-1700 T:01889 881388 Email
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Set in a deliciously unspoilt conservation area, nature goes about her own business whilst the great Shugborough Hall oozes panache and royal connection over the local landscape.
