Forget Cornwall, we’re off to Staffordshire
By Kate Simon
Cornwall is so 2022. As are the Cotswolds and the Lake District. Now, East Lothian, Leicestershire and Monmouthshire on the other hand, these are the kinds of places where people are booking breaks in 2023.
Accommodation website Vrbo reports witnessing a 40% surge in searches for holiday homes in these and other less obvious destinations. It concludes that the choices are being driven by a desire to stay in more interesting buildings rather than book a boring place in a popular location.
I’d say we’re also prepared to venture into new holiday territory due to a change in behaviour since the pandemic. We’re exploring home shores a little more thoroughly these days. First, we were motivated by necessity, now it seems we like what we found when the planes were stuck on the tarmac, often in obscurer places.
Indeed, British Beer Breaks celebrates such an adventurous spirit. We believe that wherever you roam to seek out good beer, you’ll always find something interesting to see and do when you’re not sinking a pint, half or third. A case in point, when Phil recently travelled to Staffordshire to review the Tamworth Tap, Camra’s National Pub of the Year, he found time to drop by the town’s fine Norman castle (pictured).
The castle was built on the site where the Anglo Saxon warrior queen Athelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great, first built a fort. Her story unfolds inside. And her image is the subject of one of the artist Luke Perry’s colossal works of art, which can be seen in the town, commissioned in 2018 to mark the 1110th anniversary of her death in Tamworth. The awesome six-metre-high statue stands on a roundabout by the railway station, doubling as a handy signpost – she points the way to the centre of town.
Beer breakers can easily partner Tamworth with Burton upon Trent, the home of British brewing, just up the road. While the National Brewery Museum is sadly closed (discussions continue about the future of its invaluable archives), there’s still stuff to do here between the pubs.
Industrial heritage fans can enjoy wandering around more than 20 steam engines on display in Claymills Pumping Station, and Burton is a gateway to woodland walks and cycling trails in The National Forest, a landscape scarred by heavy industry that is now being returned to nature.
Extend your explorations and you could also visit Cannock Chase, the Staffordshire Peak District, Capability Brown’s gardens at Trentham, World of Wedgwood and the global capital of ceramics Stoke-on-Trent. And then there’s the National Memorial Arboretum, where there is a particularly affecting memorial, Shot At Dawn, which remembers the 306 British Army and Commonwealth soldiers executed by firing squad in the First World War. There are more suggestions on the website of the local tourist board, Enjoy Staffordshire.
As for where to stay. Well, if you’re looking for something different there are the luxury huts and treehouses at The Tawny near Consall, the yurts at Peake’s Retreat near Burton, and The Piggery Villa, a former pigsty at Ipstones. Somewhere interesting to stay in an unusual location – who needs a cottage in Cornwall?
Phil’s beer notes
A pilgrimage to Burton upon Trent must be on the bucket list of every beer lover. But if you’re pushed for time, the one pub you should visit there is the legendary Cooper’s Tavern. When I worked for Bass, it was the place you were most like to find a stray brewer – the brewery is just across the road – and though Cooper’s is now owned by Joule’s, you can still drink Draught Bass there straight from the cask.
The Vine Inn, Rugeley, is a fine example of an old-fashioned multi-room pub – and it now has its own brewery, so worth checking out if you’re in the Cannock Chase area.
After a walk through the gardens you’ll be pleased to know that Trentham has its own craft beer bar with a tap list that showcases some of the best brewers in the country including Rivington, Deya and Pressure Drop.
Head south towards Stone and you’ll find the Borehole. Strange name for a pub but this is the Lymestone Brewery tap house where you might get the chance to taste something new before the rest of the world gets its gob around it.