Canalside Farm Shop & Café

You’re as likely to rub shoulders with narrowboaters as landlubbers at this countryside farm shop, thanks to its position right alongside the Trent and Mersey Canal. It’s a longstanding fixture here, having been growing, selling, cooking and serving the best of Staffordshire’s produce since 1983.

Head directly to the cafe for cooked breakfasts, chicken goujons, pulled pork flatbreads, panini and jacket potatoes. Much of the fruit and veg is grown right here on the farm so the flavours and food miles are pretty unbeatable.

The strawberries here are excellent, and can be picked in season (pumpkins in autumn) or tasted in the jam, doughnuts, and even gin. Punnets are sold in the farm shop, along with almost everything you could need for your destination, whether sausages from the butchery, a warm loaf of bread from the bakery or a tranche of pâté from the deli counter.

It’s in the crook of the M6, M6 Toll and M42 so you can cut a corner if you’re planning on linking up with any of those roads rather than retrace your steps. The beautiful Cannock Chase is just to the south and a rewarding detour if you want to stretch your legs with a woodland walk.