Whittington (Bridge 81) to Kings Orchard (by Marina) - Coventry Canal

We stayed put the last couple of days.

Walking by the River Tame

Wednesday – We got the bus to Tamworth and walked out to Ventura Retail Park which is a nice 15 minute walk along the River Tame through the park where Tamworth Castle is.  There is a good variety of shops including M&S, Asda, H&M, W H Smith,

Tamworth Castle

Hobbycraft to name a few.  We had a wander around the shops then walked back to the town, the park by the castle is really nice and lovely views of the castle.  We did some shopping in the town, there is a really good fruit & veg shop so we stocked up.  We then got the bus back to Whittington and walked back to the boat.

Thursday – We stayed put again and had a very relaxing day just doing a few jobs and going out for a walk as it was a lovely sunny day.

Misty Morning

Back We Go

Coming to the Junction

We are on the move today and we have to turn around and go back up the canal towards Fradley, if we carry on down the canal, the winding hole is about 2 miles from where we are moored but about half a mile the other way you can wind at Huddlesford Junction so we decided to reverse back to Huddlesford Junction to turn around as the canal is very quiet and hopefully we wouldn't meet any moving boats.

Turning Round at the Junction

Under More Bridges

Kev was going to walk along the towpath pulling the boat with a back and middle rope and I would be working the controls giving it a bit of throttle but Kev said he would first try just reversing slowly and see if the boat stayed straight as we had a couple of trees overhanging the canal, two bridges and a moored boat to negotiate but it went fine and Kev reversed back really well and also past the row of long term moored boats and then we were at the junction and we turned around, that took us 25 minutes instead of about an hour and a half going on down to the next winding hole so well worth doing and good practice for Kev!

Walled Garden

We carried on along the canal and moored up just past Kings Orchard Marina as we wanted to go in there to see how much their diesel and gas was as we need both.

What Bird is this

There is a bridge over the entrance to the marina with a gate into the marina each side but both were locked so we couldn’t get in, they obviously want you to drive in with your boat but we weren't doing that, there are other places we can get gas and diesel so we walked back to the boat and had our lunch.

Woodhouse Farm

Back along the canal at Huddlesford and up the lane there Woodhouse Farm and Gardens where they sell Pork,Beef, eggs, etc. They are only open Fridays and Saturdays and as it was such a lovely warm sunny afternoon we decided to walk up there.  It was about a two mile walk from where we are moored, but a nice walk along the towpath then up a very quiet lane and past a house where there was a ostrich type bird standing by a gate, but we weren't sure what it was.

Sat in the Walled Garden

The Walled Garden

It was a really nice place and all the pigs were outside lying in the sun.  There is a cafe which incorporates the shop.  The lady and man that run the farm were really friendly and we bought some bacon, sausages and eggs.  We said we would have a drink and a freshly made scone and asked if we would like to sit in the garden to have it, so she said to walk up past the white building and go through the gates and what a surprise, it was a huge walled garden designed by Capability Brown and where they grow lots of vegetables, it was lovely and we sat in the sun and had our tea and scones.

Beautiful Evening Sky

Apparently there used to be a big mansion house by the walled garden but was taken down sometime in the 1800s.  We asked if they had any tomatoes and the lady went and picked us some.  They run a Community garden scheme where people can join and have a vegetable box and they help out with the garden and they do parties, weddings, meetings in their tea room, it is a great place and nice to see that an old walled garden is being put to such good use.

Piggies at the Farm

We walked back down the lane back to the canal and I sat on a bench and Kev trotted off back to Whittington to get some cash from the machine there as the farm shop only took cash and we need some cash for Monday when we have to get the bus to Stafford because I am going back to Weston and Taunton for a few days.

Kev returned after a while and we walked back to the boat doing a few caches on the way.  We enjoyed our visit to Woodhouse Farm, it's a lovely place and we will definitely be visiting again when we are next this way.

We are staying here tonight then off back to Fradley Junction in the morning.

Moored at Kings Orchard