Central England – Churnet Valley, Staffordshire

Distance: 11½km/7 miles
Time: 3½hrs
Type: Woodland and industrial heritage
Where: Circular walk from Froghall in the Staffordshire Moorlands
Start/End: Froghall Wharf Visitor Centre (SK026476).
Terrain: Minor roads, tracks, paths and towpath. Potentially very muddy in parts. Steady climb near start and one long, partly stepped descent. Waymarking is generally good.
Maps: OS Explorer 258, 259; Landranger 118, 119.

North Staffordshire, famed for its Potteries conurbation, also has some of the most magnificent and secluded countryside anywhere in central England. This walk drinks deeply of this green arboreal soul, charting a course from the fascinating industrial heritage centre of Froghall through verdant farmland, before plummeting into the remarkable landscape created by the river Churnet and its tributaries. These forested chasms shelter further isolated industrial remnants, and host both England’s most scenic section of canal and a preserved railway — which can both be viewed from the beer garden of a truly outstanding ramblers’ pub at lonely Consall Forge.

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