Hopwas

Two Pubs by the Canal

The Tame Otter has been pouring drinks on this spot since the early nineteenth century, back when it was called the Chequers Inn. It sits on the Coventry Canal on the road into Lichfield, the original building at the Hints Road junction now joined to a rear extension of bare brick, flagstone floors and dark beams across several levels.

Cask ale is available. Dogs are welcome in the bar, with water bowls provided, and the lawned beer garden climbs towards the canal without quite reaching it.

The Red Lion is the other option, on Lichfield Road at the edge of Hopwas Woods. The large, food-oriented lounge serves cottage pies, curries and Sunday roasts from locally sourced ingredients; both the lounge and smaller traditional bar have solid fuel stoves.

Gardens and the Woodland Circuit

The regular cask selection includes St Austell Tribute and Timothy Taylor Landlord.

The garden is the bigger draw: a sprawling lawn, a paved terrace, a play area for children and mooring for anyone arriving by boat. Dogs are allowed in the bar and garden, not the dining lounge. An old take-out hatch by the entrance has a stained-glass surround that has gone unused for years.

The Hopwas Woods–Hademore circular starts and finishes at the Lichfield Road canal bridge, covering about 9.4km along the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal through Hopwas Wood and the Whittington firing range before returning along the towpath. Allow two and a half hours.

Towpath Tales and St Chad's

A shorter route follows the towpath to Whittington, where walkers can find refreshments. The wood covers 385 acres and has been continuously wooded since at least the eleventh century; part of it is an active military range, with public bridleways through the wood.

St Chad's Church, above the village, went up in 1881: red brick with timber framing in the upper stages and an octagonal spirelet crowning the central tower. The result is a distinctive Victorian composition.

The church replaced the earlier Hopwas Chapel, pulled down in the 1880s for being too small and inconvenient. The chapel's old graveyard remains, with a ghost story about a small boy.

From Opewas to the Woodhouse

The Domesday Book recorded the place as Opewas, a royal manor: eleven villeins and two bordars, five plough teams, a mill worth thirteen shillings and fourpence, the whole manor valued at forty shillings before and after the Conquest.

The Woodhouse, a forester's lodge built in 1730 for the Fisherwick estate, stood higher in the wood until 2010. Local tradition links it with the siege of Lichfield and Cromwell's horses. Folklore remembers a footpad called Knox, who preyed on travellers heading into the wood.

Getting There and Village Life

Tamworth station is about 2.2 miles from Hopwas in a straight line; the walking route is longer. The A51 runs between Tamworth and Lichfield. Arriva's 765 and X65 buses stop at Church Drive.

The census counted 1,016 people here in 2011. One of them is the horror novelist Guy N. Smith, who has been writing from the village for years, not far from the canal where the boats still tie up for the night.