Great Haywood Canalside Campsite

A canalside location, a farm shop over the road, and a pub within walking distance are some of the headline features of Great Haywood Canalside Campsite. It’s also on the edge of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and just 100 metres from a National Trust estate that’s reached via a walk over a historic bridge. But before you rush to book, take note of what it hasn’t got: frills. There are none. No showers, no electricity, and no flushing loos either.

This is the simplest of campsites with four chemical toilets and a drinking water tap to cater to your basic needs. You book online, let yourself in, and choose your own pitch in a flat four-acre field. Farmer Nick will be round to check on you later but it’s fair to say that confident, self-sufficient campers only need apply. What makes this place worthy of mention is its 100-metre frontage on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood Junction.

Pitch your tent facing the water (you’ll want to with the edge of the village behind) and you’ll have views of colourful narrowboats plying the waters. A marina sits on the other side of the canal and, if life on the water is calling you, there’s always the chance of day hire. Or, if you have a canoe, you can launch it just outside the site.

Back on dry land, the adventures are just as interesting, you only need to cross the bridge next to the site to get on the towpath and join the Staffordshire Way. In one direction this long-distance footpath will take you to the nearby village of Little Haywood, in the other and you’re soon crossing an ancient packhorse bridge into the National Trust’s Shugborough Estate. Pass through the parkland or pay up to explore the mansion house and gardens here. By now you’re in the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and for a proper hike the options are pretty much endless.

Great Haywood Campsite is not situated in an uncomplicated beauty spot. It’s on the edge of the village, and while it’s pretty, peaceful, and mostly green, there are buildings within sight of your pitch and a railway and a road within earshot (though the occasional whoosh of passing electric trains ceases at night). It also means there’s a pub and a farm shop with a cafe close by. For far-reaching views or camping with bells on look elsewhere, but for a simple weekend of canalside camping in the West Midlands with plenty of walks and farm-fresh produce in your picnic hamper, you’d be hard pushed to find anywhere better.