A Warwickshire countryside walk with lunch at the end

Five miles through Warwickshire countryside and along the canal near Hatton Locks, with The Hatton Arms waiting exactly where you left it. Our kind of Sunday plan.

We like our countryside walks with a little incentive at the end.

Hatton & Grove Park gives you around five miles of countryside, estate tracks and canal towpath before bringing you neatly back to The Hatton Arms. Enough of a walk to feel you’ve earned lunch; not so much of one that lunch becomes dinner.

There are hills. There are stiles. There is also lunch (and wine). We feel the arrangement is fair.

The walking part

Walk 3 takes you through the countryside around Hatton and Grove Park, with estate tracks, some road sections and a stretch alongside the Grand Union Canal near Hatton Locks.

Allow around two hours, depending on your pace and how cooperative the Warwickshire weather has been. There are hills, stiles and narrow gates along the way and, after a wet week, this is very much walking-boots territory. Optimism remains a poor substitute for appropriate footwear.

For the actual navigating, use Walk 3: Hatton & Grove Park from the estate leaflet linked on The Hatton Arms’ walking page. It’s an older leaflet, but it remains the route linked by the pub — considerably more reliable than our preferred technique of following whoever looks most confident.

And then, importantly, lunch

Back where you started is The Hatton Arms — which is precisely why we like this one.

When the weather is on your side, the terrace and beer garden overlook the locks. When it isn’t, there’s the rather appealing prospect of the log burner, lunch and a glass of red inside. Cocktail people are well catered for too.

It turns a five-mile walk into a rather good Sunday: countryside first, lunch afterwards and no standing in the car park trying to decide where to go next.

If you’re planning to eat, book a table and check the current food-service times before setting off. Pub opening hours and kitchen hours aren’t necessarily the same thing. Five miles followed by discovering the kitchen has closed is not character building. It is just annoying.

The useful bit

Distance: Around 5 miles / 8km, circular. Enough to justify lunch.

Time: Around two hours. Allow longer for stops and your own pace; we’re not timing you.

Terrain: Countryside, estate tracks, some road sections and canal towpath, with hills, stiles and narrow gates. Expect mud after a wet week; see previous note regarding optimism.

Dogs: The Hatton Arms welcomes dogs. Check the current route guidance before setting off for any restrictions along the walk.

Lunch: Check current food-service times and reserve a table if you’re planning to eat. This is not the part of the plan we’d leave to chance.

Navigation: Use Walk 3: Hatton & Grove Park in the official route leaflet. It’s older, but still linked from The Hatton Arms’ walking page.

Save this one for a dry-ish Sunday.