We checked 9 Boxing Day walks near Lichfield, from Stowe Pool to Cannock Chase and Shugborough, for opening times, parking and cafes. Updated November 2026.
There are nine Boxing Day walks in and around Lichfield worth getting out for in 2026, and this guide puts them in one place with opening times, parking and what is open for a hot drink. The easy answer is the loop round Stowe Pool and Beacon Park, which starts at the cathedral. For a cafe at the end, Shugborough opens its parkland at 9am, Cannock Chase Forest opens at 7.30am, and the National Remembrance Gardens at Alrewas opens its grounds free from 10am. Every time was checked against the owner’s own pages on 12 November 2026.
Boxing Day 2026 is a Saturday, and the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. Three things to know before you set out:
- No trains. Neither Lichfield City nor Lichfield Trent Valley has any trains on 25 or 26 December; our Christmas trains and travel page has the rest of the holiday timetable. Walk from home or drive.
- Light. The sun sets just before 4pm on 26 December, and Shugborough, Kingsbury Water Park and the Remembrance Gardens all shut at 4pm. Start anything longer than three miles by 1pm.
- Cash and cards. Chasewater’s car park needs cash, Kingsbury’s machines take cards only.
In Lichfield, no car needed
1. Stowe Pool and Stowe Fields
The walk that ends up in everyone’s photographs: a circuit of the old mill pool with the cathedral’s three spires across the water. Lichfield District Council lists a circular pool walk, a large open field, a play area with a 30-metre zip wire and an outdoor gym paid for by the Rotary Club of Lichfield.
The pool and fields hold a Green Flag Award and are open all year. From Stowe Pool it is a few minutes along Dam Street to Minster Pool, so the two join up into one loop through the centre.
Open all year
Parking Lombard Street, Bunkers Hill, Greenhough Road and Shaw Lane car parks
Address Stowe Pool and Stowe Fields, off Lombard Street, Lichfield WS13
Website lichfielddc.gov.uk/directory-record/5655/stowe-pool-and-stowe-fields
Good for cathedral views, dogs, children's play area, a short loop from the centre
2. Beacon Park and Minster Pool
More than 70 acres of Victorian gardens, lawns, woodland and brooks at the west end of the city, with Minster Pool and its walk running along the cathedral side of the centre. The district council says there are no steps anywhere in Beacon Park: the Bird Street entrances are gently sloped and the Swan Road entrance is level, though the compacted paths through the woodland are narrow in places.
The park is open all year, but the Ranger Station kiosk by the crazy golf is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Minster Pool and Walk, home to Lichfield’s Speakers’ Corner, belongs to Lichfield City Council.
Open all year; Ranger Station closed 25 and 26 December and 1 January
Parking Bunkers Hill, Greenhough Road and Shaw Lane car parks
Address Beacon Park, Bird Street, Lichfield
Website lichfielddc.gov.uk/directory-record/5651/beacon-park
Access no steps; Swan Road entrance level; woodland paths narrower and gently sloped
Good for pushchairs, wheelchairs, dogs, a stroll from the city centre
North of the city: canals and the Trent
3. Fradley Junction
Where the Coventry Canal meets the Trent and Mersey, off the A38 north of Lichfield and about three miles from Lichfield Trent Valley station. The Canal & River Trust calls it one of its busiest places, with cafes, a pub and Fradley Pool Nature Reserve, a former canal reservoir now kept for wildlife and fishing.
The towpaths run in both directions, so you can make the walk as long as you like. The pub at the junction is the Swan, which CAMRA lists as a Grade II listed late 18th century building known locally as the Mucky Duck; it had not published Boxing Day hours by 12 November.
Open towpaths open at all times
Parking pay and display car park on site
Toilets on site and in the pub
Address Fradley Junction, Alrewas DE13 7DN
Website canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/fradley-junction
Good for canals and locks, dogs, a pub at the end, a nature reserve
4. Croxall Lakes
A 42-hectare Staffordshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the far side of the river from the Remembrance Gardens, where the Tame and the Mease meet the Trent. Entry is free.
The Trust describes the paths as fairly flat and smooth, with RADAR kissing gates onto the main track and pedestrian kissing gates elsewhere, and asks that dogs stay on a lead and only in the areas signed on site. Two large lakes draw wildfowl and waders, and between November and January the Trust says short-eared owls can be seen hunting low over the long grass.
The car park locks promptly at 5pm in winter.
Open car park 8am to 5pm, October to March
Price free
Parking small car park with a height barrier, locked overnight
Address Croxall Lakes, near Alrewas WS13 8QX (nearest postcode)
Website staffs-wildlife.org.uk/nature-reserves/croxall-lakes
Access flat, smooth paths; RADAR kissing gates on the main track
Good for birdwatching, short-eared owls in winter, a quiet walk, dogs on leads
5. National Remembrance Gardens, Alrewas
The 150-acre estate on Croxall Road that most people still call the National Memorial Arboretum, renamed by the Royal British Legion in September 2026. Its Christmas page gives the grounds as open 10am to 4pm daily and free to enter, closing only on Christmas Day; its list of special hours on 12 November still carried last year’s weekdays, so check before you go.
Parking is £5 booked ahead or £8 on the day. Dogs are welcome on a short lead, but not on the Armed Forces Memorial or in the indoor exhibitions; the coffee shop and covered seating in Heroes’ Square take visitors with dogs.
Open grounds 10am to 4pm; closed Christmas Day
Price free entry; parking £5 booked in advance, £8 on the day
Address Croxall Road, Alrewas DE13 7AR
Website gardens.britishlegion.org.uk/christmas
Good for memorials and woodland, dogs on short leads, a coffee shop, play areas
West: Chasewater and Cannock Chase
6. Chasewater Country Park
Staffordshire County Council’s 889-acre country park on the Burntwood and Brownhills edge, built round a reservoir created to feed the canals and still the largest canal feeder reservoir in use. A lap of the water is roughly three to four miles depending on the path, past heath, woodland and the Chasewater Railway.
The car park takes cash only: £1.20 for two hours or £3.50 all day, open 7am to 6pm in winter. Chasewater has held a Boxing Day charity dip in past years (the Express & Star reported it in 2024); no 2026 date had been set by 12 November.
Open car park 7am to 6pm, October to March
Price parking £1.20 up to two hours, £3.50 all day, cash
Toilets 8am to 3.30pm, according to the county council
Call 01543 370737
Address Pool Road, Brownhills WS8 7NL
Website staffordshire.gov.uk/environment/list-parks-picnic-areas-and-greenways/chasewater-country-park
Good for a reservoir loop, dogs, birdwatching, steam railway views
7. Cannock Chase Forest, Birches Valley
Forestry England’s base on the Chase, off Penkridge Bank Road near Rugeley, and open every day of the year except Christmas Day. The waymarked walks start from the car park: the Ladyhill Trail is an easy mile on gravel, suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, past the Gruffalo sculpture and the fairy trees; the Fairoak Trail is a 2.5-mile loop out to the Fairoak Pools, with moderate slopes and stepping stones near the end that you can avoid by returning the way you came.
The Room on the Broom Christmas trail runs this winter, with packs at £4 from the cafe and information point.
Open 7.30am to 5pm in December; closed Christmas Day
Price parking up to 1 hour £4, 2 hours £7.50, 3 hours £11, over 3 hours £12.50; members free
Address Birches Valley, Rugeley WS15 2UQ
Website forestryengland.uk/cannock-chase-forest
Good for waymarked trails, Grounds Cafe, children's Christmas trail, dogs
8. Shugborough Estate
The National Trust’s estate at Milford, home of the Anson family since 1624, where the Chase drops down to the Trent and the Sow. Its day-by-day calendar opens the parkland, gardens and walled garden from 9am to 4pm on Saturday 26 December, with the Mansion Tea-room and shop from 10am to 3pm and the Park Farm Cafe from 9.30am to 3pm.
Everything is shut on Christmas Day and closes at 2pm on Christmas Eve. Park and garden tickets are £12 for an adult, £6 for a child and £30 for a family; members go free.
From the estate, paths lead up onto Cannock Chase for a longer walk.
Open Boxing Day parkland and gardens 9am to 4pm; Mansion Tea-room 10am to 3pm; Park Farm Cafe 9.30am to 3pm; closed Christmas Day
Price park and gardens adult £12, child £6, family £30; National Trust members free
Call 01889 880160
Address Shugborough Estate, Milford, near Stafford ST17 0UP
Website nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/shropshire-staffordshire/shugborough-estate
Good for parkland and monuments, two cafes, a walled garden, a longer walk onto the Chase
South: the Tame valley
9. Kingsbury Water Park
Warwickshire County Council’s country park at Bodymoor Heath, south of Lichfield: 15 lakes in more than 600 acres, with surfaced paths round the water. From November to January the park opens 8am to 4pm, and the car charge drops to £3.50 for the whole day until the end of February.
The ticket machines take cards only. The information centre opens 11.30am to 2.30pm in winter and shuts on Christmas Day only.
Open 8am to 4pm, November to January
Price car parking £3.50 all day, 1 November to 28 February; card only
Call 01827 872660
Address Bodymoor Heath, Sutton Coldfield B76 0DY
Website countryparks.warwickshire.gov.uk/homepage/6/kingsbury-water-park
Good for surfaced lakeside paths, a cafe, birdwatching, a play area
How we chose
These are the walks people in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages head for over Christmas, taken from what the owners publish: Lichfield District Council for Beacon Park, Stowe Pool and Minster Pool; Staffordshire County Council for Chasewater; the Canal & River Trust for Fradley Junction; Staffordshire Wildlife Trust for Croxall Lakes; the Royal British Legion for the Remembrance Gardens; Forestry England for Cannock Chase; the National Trust, whose day-by-day calendar gives Shugborough’s Boxing Day hours; and Warwickshire County Council for Kingsbury. Several pubs and cafes on these walks have not published Boxing Day hours yet; we will add them as they do.
Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@lichfieldtoday.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@lichfieldtoday.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.
For lunch afterwards, see Christmas dinner in Lichfield, where several pubs list Boxing Day menus, and where is open on Christmas Day. For the rest of the season, see Christmas in Lichfield and what’s on in Lichfield this month. For the rest of the year, see things to do in Lichfield, or browse the Lichfield business directory.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I walk in Lichfield on Boxing Day without driving?
Stowe Pool, Beacon Park and Minster Pool are all in the city centre and open all year, so a loop from the cathedral round Stowe Pool and back through Minster Pool and Beacon Park needs no car. There are no trains from either Lichfield station on Saturday 26 December 2026. The Beacon Park Ranger Station is closed on Boxing Day, though the park itself is open.
Is Shugborough open on Boxing Day 2026?
Yes. The National Trust’s calendar opens Shugborough’s parkland, gardens and walled garden from 9am to 4pm on Saturday 26 December 2026, with the Mansion Tea-room from 10am to 3pm and the Park Farm Cafe from 9.30am to 3pm. It is closed on Christmas Day. Park and garden tickets are £12 for an adult, and members go free.
Is Cannock Chase Forest open on Boxing Day?
Yes. Forestry England says Cannock Chase Forest at Birches Valley is open every day except Christmas Day, from 7.30am to 5pm in December. Parking costs £4 for an hour up to £12.50 for more than three hours, and Forestry England members park free.
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