Alrewas is a beautiful little village in the Staffordshire Countryside about 5 miles north of Lichfield. It’s the perfect place to begin a walk as there’s always plenty of parking, several pubs to refuel after your walk and a gorgeous canal to follow. This is one of my very favourite Alrewas circular walks, it’s a challenging 7 miles long but mainly flat so not too tough.
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The Alrewas Circular Walk Route
Begin the walk in the Village of Alrewas. You’ll easily find parking on the main road or one of the side streets. We tend to head for the George and Dragon Pub (DE13 7AE). Once you’ve parked up walk back up Main Street towards the canal bridge.
Head down to the canal Towpath, heading left. You’ll see this sweet quote on the wall. It says “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” from Wind in the Willows. It is pretty perfect.
Keep following the canal, you’ll soon leave the village of Alrewas, passing the cricket ground and various moorings. If you’re lucky you’ll spot some of the local wildlife or some colourful artwork.
After about a mile and a quarter you’ll approach Fradley Junction. This is where the Trent and Mersey and Coventry Canals meet. Leave the towpath here and follow the signs to the cafe. This is a great place to grab a take out coffee to keep you going for the next section of the walk. Not many Alrewas circular walks have the option to stop for treats halfway round so this is a great addition to the route.
Once you’ve refuelled leave the cafe along the towpath just past the toilets. After a few metres you’ll come to a bridge. Cross over to the other side of the canal. Opposite the bridge is a footpath sign. Follow this around the back of a couple of houses. Yes it will feel like you’re in someones garden but I promise it’s a public right of way!
Keep going and just behind the garage you’ll see where the footpath passes into some woods. Keep heading through, keeping the caravan park to your left. At the end of the woods you’ll come to a wooded stile with space for dogs to duck under. This small section of path is very narrow. Make sure no one is coming the other way before you start!
You’ll cross a small wooden plank into open fields. Walk diagonally across and you’ll get to the paved roads leading you to Alrewas Hayes. Keep going past the wedding venue till a fork in the path opens up. Head right. You’ll eventually reach some temporary roadway and then a path across the fields.
Follow the clearly defined path through several kissing gates and you’ll make it back onto Alrewas Hayes Road, a small trail leading you A513 road. You’ll need to carefully cross over this – the cars do go quite fast. Take the road immediately in front of you to Orgreave.
This is where we veered off a bit to find somewhere to eat our sandwiches. We kept going down this track, through the farm and over another stile. Then across the field before we stopped to enjoy the view looking back to Orgreave Hall.
We then retraced our steps to the A513 to find the footpath. You’re looking for some black metal gates here in order to continue the walk.
Keep going down this lane. You’ll pass beautiful Orgreave Hall and eventually get back into open fields.
The footpath takes you across the field and quickly onto a paved road which passes the gas station. You can tell by the smell! Keep going along this road, through the tiny village of Orgreave until you see the public footpath sign. Follow it and you’ll spot Alrewas Church in the distance.
This is a fairly narrow path taking you cross country, past ponds, fields and woods.
Once you get back near the village the path becomes more built up and you’ll eventually make it back to Alrewas church. This is All Saints Parish church, a grade I listed building which has been around since the 1000’s!
From here you’ll be heading along Church Road the Post Office Road, back to your car on Main Street. As things are opening up a bit, it’s probably a good idea to reward yourself with a pint at one of the many pubs in the village of Alrewas before heading home! Or if you’re heading back on the A38, it’s well worth a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas. A beautiful outdoor space for reflection.
Walk Details
Walk Duration: This Alrewas circular walk took us around four and a half hours. We did have a little detour and stopped for lunch.
Walk Length: This walk is quiet a tiring 7 miles. If you don’t follow our route for lunch, you could probably take another half mile off.
Walk Difficulty: Being a fairly long walk makes it quite challenging regardless of the terrain and I wouldn’t recommend it with buggies. There are lots of stiles to go over and as with most Alrewas circular walks, it can be very muddy.
Facilities on the walk: This is a good one for some creature comforts. As mentioned there’s a great cafe at Fradley Junction along with a couple of clean toilets. Once you get into Alrewas Village, there are loads of pubs and a couple of shops should you need anything.
If you’re completing the walk with kids there’s a lovely nature trail around the Lake at Fradley Junction you could complete.
How to get to Alrewas
If you’re coming from Lichfield, head up the A38 towards Burton on Trent (or towards Lichfield if your going the other way). Leave the A38 at the junction signposted A513 towards Alrewas and Tamworth. At the island follow the sign towards Alrewas. It’s a turn on your right just after a bridge over the canal. The village is about half a mile down the road. Pop the postcode DE13 7AE in your sat nav and you’ll get there.
The Walk with Dogs
This is a good one to try with dogs, there are heaps of different terrains and sniffs for them. Most stiles are kissing gate style but if you have a larger dog you may have to lift them over a couple. Please make sure you pick up after your dog to keep the walk enjoyable for all. You’ll find dog waste bins at Fradley Junction, on the A513 at Orgreave and in Alrewas village.
Another of my favourite Alrewas circular walks is this Alrewas to Wychnor loop which is a little shorter at 4 miles long and takes the the other way down the canal. Or for another circular walk near Lichfield along the canal you could try this walk from Whittington which is another sweet Staffordshire village.
If you’re a fan of circular walks then make sure to read this list of loop walks near Lichfield.