Weston upon Trent to Salt - Trent & Mersey Canal

Wednesday and Yesterday we stayed put at Weston. 

Wednesday we caught the bus to Rugeley, we were going to go to Stafford but decided to go to Rugeley for a change as there is a good choice of supermarkets there and more compact than Stafford.  We did all our food shopping, then got the bus back and chilled out for the rest of the day.

St Mary's Church

Yesterday we did a few jobs in the morning then went for a nice walk in the afternoon to Ingestre, there are two beautiful old buildings there, one is Ingestre Hall which is a Residential Art Centre and the other was a Stables/ Riding School.

Lovely Painted Window

We walked on to St Mary's Church.  It is a lovely church and the only parish church outside London attributed to Sir Christopher Wren.  Architectural historians acknowledge this jewel in the Staffordshire countryside as Wren's work.  There are some lovely stained glass windows but the one above the alter is painting, it's still lovely.

We walked back to the canal and sat on a bench for a while watching the world go by.  Unfortunately we couldn’t do a circular walk today but it was still a good walk about 4 miles in total.

Today we are on the move just a couple of miles to Salt where there is a nice pub called The Holly Bush, so we are going there for lunch.  It is said to be one of the oldest pubs in Staffordshire and has been run by the same family for over 20 years.  It is also generally recognised as being the second licensed pub in the country.

Licensing of public houses began in the reign of Charles II ( 1660 – 1685) so the Holly Bush must have been well established at that time but origins are claimed to reach as far back as 1190.

Geese in the Field

Lovely Bridge at Salt

We set off along the canal, it was another dry day but not as warm as it has been and very breezy.

We passed a long line of moored boats and then we were at Salt where we moored up just before a lovely ornate bridge.  We chilled out for a bit then headed off up the road to the pub.

The Holly Bush Inn

We got a table okay as it wasn't too busy when we got there, but there was a steady flow of customers and the pub soon filled up.

Our Lovely Lunch

Waiting for my Lunch

They have a lunch time menu and a main menu and lots of specials as well so plenty to choose from.  Kev and I shared a starter of baked Camembert with Apricot and Walnuts, then Kev had the Hunters chicken but they added chorizo and salami and it was home made barbeque sauce, I had Greek lamb which was slow cooked shoulder with Greek herbs and spices and served with chips and a Greek salad and came on a huge plate, the portions were very generous and it was all delicious.

We didn’t have room for a dessert but everything that came out the kitchen looked yummy, it's a great pub and well worth a visit and we will return!

We waddled back to the boat and will just chill out for the rest of the day.  We are also staying here tomorrow as there are a few caches in the area and then on Sunday we will be moving on to Stone.

Moored at Salt