Clifton Campville

A Pub Reborn

The Green Man shut its doors for two years and reopened in November 2023. The building dates from the 16th century — stone flags, low beams, a coal stove — but the food has had a proper going-over. A TripAdvisor reviewer called it "seriously upgraded, with great vibe and staff that are top-notch, and the food is like a fancy restaurant sneaked into a pub menu."

The pork pie is the thing to order: flaky crust, a filling with real depth to it. There's beef ale pie too, a steak sandwich with triple-cooked chips, a 7oz fillet steak at £35, and a £16 burger if you're not in a fillet-steak mood. The regular real ale is Draught Bass, poured under vintage Ansells signage left from when Banks's brewery had the tap and Sunbeam was on the pumps. Ownership changed again earlier in 2026, with the new owner and chef reported locally as Melissa; a 2019 visitor blog recorded an earlier landlady who offered patrons complimentary pork pie unasked.

Games, Gardens and the Missing Shop

Dogs are welcome, there's a terrace at the front and a beer garden out back, and if you'd rather play than eat there's a pool table and a table game called devil among the tailors.

There's no butcher, baker or shop in the village — for that you'd head into Tamworth, seven miles south, or Lichfield, ten miles west.

The Spire and the Mease

What Clifton Campville does have is the spire. St Andrew's Church is Grade I listed, and its 210-foot spire is visible across the Mease valley farmland long before you reach the village — four flying buttresses holding up a needle struck by lightning in 1984, three years to repair. Inside, the south aisle carries traces of early-14th-century wall painting showing the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Lady Chapel holds the alabaster tomb of John Vernon of Harlaston, who died in 1545, and his wife Ellen, shown in recumbent effigy. There are 14th-century misericords behind the choir stalls, a parish chest carved from a single, likely elm, trunk, and, up a stair in the north transept, a priest's room with its own fireplace and garderobe. Simon Jenkins put it in his thousand best churches; it opens daily, roughly 9:30 to 4.

The River Mease runs along the northern edge of the village, under Stones Bridge and past the old mill under Mill Bridge, on to Haunton a mile west and Harlaston a mile and a half beyond that — a walkable string of villages along the water. Coneyberry Millennium Green hosts the Country Fair and an annual Horse Show; the Village Hall was left to the village by Major Richard Reed in 1971.

From Clistone to the Road Out

Domesday knew the place as Clistone: 33 villagers and a priest, eleven plough teams, two mills. The de Camville family added their name to the farm after 1200 and held it until 1338, when the last male heir died leaving five daughters and no sons.

Tamworth station is seven miles south on the West Coast line; the 84 bus stops on Church Street, four minutes' walk away. From there it's roughly fifteen minutes to Tamworth Castle, or about the same to Twycross Zoo, home to the only bonobo group in the country.

The Churchwarden's Spire

The churchwarden is Mrs Sarah Ennis, and she'll tell you about the spire if you catch her there.