Shugborough and the Staffs & Worcs Canal Walk

Turn right and follow the towpath past Tixall Lock and Tixall Wide. As you go through Tixall Wide look out for the elegant building on the other side of the Wide across the fields. This is Tixall Gatehouse, once the gatehouse to Tixall Hall. The original Hall was built in 1555 and demolished in 1927/8 with the Gatehouse being built slightly later in 1580 and this has been refurbished as a holiday let run by the Landmark Trust. The mostly likely theory for the creation of Tixall Wide is that it was dug at the instigation of the Clifford family who owned TIxall Hall at that time in order to provide the Hall with a beautiful view.

The next bridge is called Swivel Bridge although there is no evidence that it has ever been anything other than a brick accommodation bridge. Passing some permanent residential moorings and an Anglo Welsh hire base you will soon arrive at the junction of the Staffs & Worcs and Trent & Mersey Canals with its very elegant bridge.

The bridge leads onto the bridleway across Shugborough Park where there are good views of Shugborough Hall, the ancestral home of the Anson family, Earls of Lichfield. If you are National Trust members you may go through the gate into the Park and either visit the House or make use of the cafes and toilet facilities. Either way you will end up at the visitor centre at the other end of the bridleway.

At the top of the hill is Satnall Reservoir and the waymarked path goes through a gate to the right. Ignore this and follow the wide track to the left and around the reservoir. This will then turn into a wide footpath going downhill through the trees back to the Stafford to Rugeley road at a small layby. Turn right onto the pavement and you will arrive back at the starting point of Milford Common.