We hope that this lock cottage will give you a taste for travel by canal, which is the prime way to see England at walking pace without actually having to walk. Until the 1950s many such handsome unpretentious buildings served and graced our canal system; but they were demolished ruthlessly. Indeed it was, in particular, the destruction of Thomas Telford’s Junction House at Hurlestone on the Shropshire Union canal which maddened us into starting the Landmark Trust.

This survivor lies on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, built between 1790 and 1815, which runs for 30 miles from Diglis Basin in Worcester to Gas Street in Birmingham.

Birmingham, as boaters all discover, is on a hill, and it takes 58 locks in 16 miles to lift this canal from the Severn to the Birmingham level. Of these locks, 30 are here at Tardebigge, the longest flight in Britain.

Our cottage is between locks 31 and 32, by bridge 49, a bridge as beautiful as all the others (which you must cross after leaving your car and walk along the towpath to reach the cottage, with a wheelbarrow thoughtfully provided to assist the transfer of luggage and provisions); canals are a wonderful demonstration that beauty and utility can be combined. Alas today only pleasure boats and towpath walkers will pass in front of your windows, but at the lock, you may well be offered a lift up the flight; and at the top, with its surprising view, you will, if you possess any spirit at all, decide to navigate one day still further, through the tunnel under the green hill beyond.

View our history sheet for this Landmark

Sleeps: 4