Tixall and Shugborough



Our morning walk took us into the Shugborough estate


We are having a day at Tixall Wide (Fri) and decided to walk into Shugborough estate - with its hall that dates back to the 17th Century (and prices that date back to the 21st century - £37.50 for a family to get in!!!).  Apparently the original house was owned by the Bishops of Litchfield until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  There are inscriptions on the Shepherds monument (found in the grounds of the estate) that are thought to be a cipher text that has been associated with the Holy Grail, the knights Templar and UFOs.  The estate has been visited by experts from Bletchley Park.

Simon explains our proposed route through Shugborough - follow the twig on the right, turn left at the leaf ...

Shugborough Hall - built late 17C it looks like somewhere Jane Austen might have visited

One of Shugborough`s many follys, arches and towers, created by James Athenian Stuart

A lodge on the estate



Monuments are all over the place.




We looked for JA but with no luck, unfortunately



Our route took us back through Great Haywood

We finished up at Great Haywood and walked back to M along the towpath.  It was a nice circular walk - towpath to Tixall Bridge, turn left along the road for a short walk to the entrance to Shugborough estate and then back in the park to Great Haywood. 

There`s lots of activity at the junction at Great Haywood  (where the Staffs and Worc and the Trent and Mersey meet) and plenty to see. In its day - the Staffs and Worc canal was completed in 1772 - Great Haywood was a busy, working junction.  In many ways it still is but now for the leisure industry, with a hire fleet, a marina, boat builders and moorings.

A  fisherman displays a 17 pound pike caught at Tixall



Old and new - Sheppard, boat builder at Great Haywood




Anglo Welsh hire fleet getting ready for the weekend