Last Sunday we had headed over to Coventry to explore the Midlands Air Museum and the Electric Railway Museum. They are next door to each other, right by Coventry Airport, and the railway museum is only open on certain weekends throughout the year. I’ll be writing about both museums in a future post, but with the sun still shining we decided to make a detour on the way home and spent an afternoon at Hatton Locks.
Hatton Locks is located near to Warwick and is well signposted from the main roads. There’s a pay and display car park with a £1.50 charge for 24 hours parking. We’d been before when Monkey was a baby and as he’d recently been on a school trip to Stoke Bruerne Museum he was overflowing with all sorts of information about life on the canals.
The 21 locks that form the Hatton Locks on the Grand Union Canal are known as the Stairway to Heaven and we could certainly see why, as we walked along the towpath.
We didn’t have to wait long until we saw a few boats navigating their way through the series of locks and it was lovely listening to Monkey explain the process to us. His teacher would be proud.
I got the chance to play around with shutter speeds on my camera whilst Monkey watched the sluices open and the water rise. You might spot my favourite in tomorrow’s My Sunday Photo post.
We watched the boats moving through the locks and Monkey even helped his Dad to close one of them.
An afternoon at Hatton Locks is a lovely way to enjoy a walk in the countryside, it is popular, but we still had space to walk freely.
If you’re looking for refreshments during an afternoon at Hatton Locks, there’s the Hatton Arms pub within walking distance of the car park, but we opted for a cream tea from the Hatton Locks Cafe, which was lovely. They also have toilets there.
Much to Monkey’s delight the canal runs fairly close to the main line railway and he was soon adding a bit of train spotting across the hedgerows to the afternoon activities.
Of course with my son, no trip out can go by without him picking up sticks, an afternoon at Hatton Locks was to be no exception.
While he had fun searching for more sticks, I just admired the reflections in the water.
It was all so peaceful, even though a lot of other families were enjoying an afternoon at Hatton Locks.
Monkey soon discovered the Piling Boat play area and was off again, having fun, enjoying a sunny afternoon.
It was a lovely way to spend a few hours on Sunday afternoon and well worth a visit if you are in the area. It’s also close to the National Trust properties of Baddesley Clinton and Packwood House as well as Hatton Country World. We will certainly be back when we’re in the area again. Have you been?
What a fabulous place to visit – we have loads of canals but no locks, which is a shame as it looks great fun to watch ! Love the photos of the reflections !) #countrykids
Hatton Locks looks like the perfect place to explore, definitely something a little different to experience. Monkey looks fascinated by how the locks are working, with the sluices and the gates themselves, it’s great that he got to have a go at opening and closing the lock gates. This definitely looks like a lovely place to relax with beautiful scenery.
Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
DIdn’t Monkey do so well to go so long without a stick! And well done to him on his knowledge of the locks. Reminds me of my childhood growing up in Great Barr Birmingham. Looks like you fitted quite a lot into the day too. #countrykids
We do like to visit locks too when we’re up in the midlands visiting friends. Will be visiting family there soon and excited to watch the boats go by in the locks again 🙂 #countrykids
We have a lock very near to where I live in Oxford, I can sit there on the bridge watching it for ages, not sure why! It somehow seems kinda incredible watching these sort of pseudo gate-dams.
Enjoyed reading it 🙂
The Oxford canal is a lovely one isn’t it
This looks great, I think it’s brilliant that you can extend their school learning. We haven’t visited locks with Monkey yet but I think he would love them. I don’t know if there are any near us. This one has a lot going on I like that there is a play area too. #CountryKids
We took the boys to Boulters Lock and they loved watching. This looks fab #countrykids
It looks like a really nice place to check out. I’ll add it to my list next time we’re that way #countrykids
That looks like such a wonderful place to visit, and so much fun to watch the locks in operation! #countrykids
It’s a lovely place to watch the world go by.
There is something fascinating about watching how the locks work. Your photos are gorgeous and that cream tea looks yummy!
#countrykids
Thank you, it was delicious
What a lovely afternoon spent at Hatton Locks and I love that Monkey was explaining how it all worked. Your photos brought back some happy memories – I remember going through the locks on a canal trip and having to go through quite quickly as we arrived late in the day and needed to get through before sundown. Hubby went on ahead on his bike making sure the next lock ahead was set ready for us to go in as we left each one. I think it took about two hours in total to get through them all. Monkey looks like he enjoyed himself there and I love the look of the play area. #countrykids
I can imagine, we followed one boat and it was taken them ages. Fun though I should imagine.
there’s something I love about canals, not sure why, maybe the boats or because it’s water and I love water! we have a canal basin here and I live only a few minutes away, its so peaceful down there. looks like a really nice place to spend with your family, your son looks very happy! #countrykids
They are rather soothing aren’t they.
Looks like a lovely day out. My children also love to collect sticks. I love cream tea. #CountryKids
It was really relaxing.