Vines, wings and border-country walks
Bobbington
A rural Staffordshire village where an old control tower, a wine estate at Halfpenny Green and heathland paths shape a visit.
- Best for
- Aviation views, village history and country walks
- Give it
- Editorial estimate: half a day, or longer with the circular walk
- Don't miss
- Holy Cross Church's four-bay Norman arcade
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
A small village with an unusually varied edge
Bobbington suits visitors who want rural history, food and outdoor time without treating the village as a conventional shopping stop.
The appeal comes from a Grade II* church and historic alehouse in the village, an airport restaurant in the old control tower, and a wine estate at Halfpenny Green with food and crafts. The circular walk leads through farmland, with a longer option through Highgate Common.
Where to go
Places in Bobbington
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Red Lion Inn
A village alehouse first recorded in 1820, with meals, 16 guest rooms, a games room and a garden with a children's play area.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Six Ashes Road, Bobbington
Bobbington, Six Ashes and Highgate Common Circular Walk
The 4.5-mile short route crosses farmland; the 8-mile long route continues through Highgate Common's woodland and heath and takes about four hours.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Short route: about 2.5 hours
- Locality
- starts in Bobbington
- Access
- The walk crosses farmland and includes stiles and footbridges.
Halfpenny Green Wine Estate
A vineyard of almost 30 acres with a shop, restaurant and tearooms, alongside a craft village with 16 artisan businesses.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Halfpenny Green, near Bobbington
Food & drink
1 placeAmelia's Bar & Restaurant
The restaurant is on the ground floor of the old airport control tower, with a first-floor bar, viewing terrace and screens showing aircraft movements. Visitors are welcome alongside flyers.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport, near Bobbington
- Access
- Dogs are not permitted inside the bar or restaurant; the outside area is dog-friendly.
Walks & outdoors
1 place
Highgate Common
A 132-hectare reserve of lowland heath and woodland, with a network of paths and a picnic area. Dogs must be kept under effective control.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- near Kingswinford
History & heritage
1 place
Holy Cross Church
A Grade II* church with a 12th-century core and four-bay Norman arcade, later restored by Sir Arthur Blomfield and home to Princess Alice's memorial flower stand.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Bobbington village
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Three ways to explore Bobbington
Signature outings
Find the Norman arcade
Visit Holy Cross for its four-bay 12th-century arcade, then look for the memorial flower stand given by Princess Alice after the 1972 airfield tragedy.
Visit the control tower
Eat in the ground-floor restaurant, then visit the first-floor bar and viewing terrace for the airfield outlook.
Follow Highgate's trails
Follow the Miniature Monsters Trail and its boards introducing the insects that live on Highgate Common.
The village story
Bobbington: Norman Stonework, Airfield Views and Heathland
Airfield views, a village alehouse, Norman stonework and heathland walks in Staffordshire's rural border country.
Runway dining and village hospitality
Amelia's Bar & Restaurant occupies the old control tower at Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport. The ground-floor restaurant sits below a first-floor bar with a viewing terrace and screens showing aircraft movements. Diners are welcome whether or not they are flying, and cask ale is served at weekends.
First recorded as an alehouse in 1820, the Red Lion Inn has been family run for more than twenty years. It has a restaurant, games room, garden with a children's play area and 16 guest rooms. Regular ales include Hobsons Town Crier, Enville Ale and Wye Valley HPA.
Wine and crafts at Halfpenny Green
Halfpenny Green Wine Estate is about 2.0 miles from Bobbington village in a straight line; the road journey is longer. It has almost 30 acres of vines, a shop, restaurant and tearooms, and a craft village with 16 artisan businesses.
A circuit through heath and history
The Bobbington, Six Ashes and Highgate Common circular walk begins in Bobbington and crosses farmland with views towards Shropshire. The 8-mile option continues through woodland and heath before passing Halfpenny Green airfield; allow about four hours. A shorter 4.5-mile option takes about 2.5 to 3 hours.
Holy Cross Church has a twelfth-century four-bay Norman arcade and was a dependent chapel of Claverley, over the Shropshire border, until the Reformation, before becoming a separate parish in 1726. The Grade II* church later received a memorial wrought-iron flower stand from Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, after her son Prince William of Gloucester was killed near the airfield in 1972.
Royal visits and rural connections
Henry III is recorded at Bobbington in 1238 and 1245. When he passed through in 1256 on his way to Bridgnorth, he ordered the sheriff to send four pipes of wine ahead of his arrival.
Route 125 connects Kidderminster and Bridgnorth via Bewdley. Plan the final journey to Bobbington before setting out.
The school the airfield displaced
In 1792, Hannah and Mary Corbett established White Cross School for twenty poor boys and twelve poor girls. Its original buildings were demolished because of their proximity to the airfield; classes used temporary accommodation until a new school was built in 1957.
Stay around Staffordshire
Make a longer stay of it
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Silkwood House | Boutique 4 Bed nr. Peak District
- Sleeps 8
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Heather's House
- Sleeps 6
- 2 bedrooms
For homeowners
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Photography credits & licences
Third-party photographs are credited to their named creators and reused under the linked Creative Commons licence or public-domain dedication. Travel Fox stores an optimised local copy; the file-specific changes and any browser-applied display crop are disclosed below. Reused photographs link both to the Wikimedia Commons source record and to the declared source image; Travel Fox's own photographs carry no such record and are marked as ours. These image licences do not cover Travel Fox text, branding or page design.
- File:Bobbington, Staffordshire, Holy Cross Church - geograph.org.uk - 4560464.jpg — photograph by Dr Neil Clifton; Dr Neil Clifton. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
- File:Highgate Common near Bobbington in Staffordshire - geograph.org.uk - 6870524.jpg — photograph by Roger D Kidd; Highgate Common near Bobbington in Staffordshire by Roger D Kidd. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Red Lion Inn — bobbington-pc.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Amelia's Bar & Restaurant — ameliasbarandrestaurant.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Holy Cross Church — bobbington-pc.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Bobbington, Six Ashes and Highgate Common Circular Walk — staffordshire.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Highgate Common — staffs-wildlife.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Halfpenny Green Wine Estate — halfpennygreen.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation