I went on an excursion with our local WI ‘Out & About’ group to Barton Marina. It is situated off the A38 between Alrewas and Burton on Trent, in the Midlands.
Although I live nearby, this was my first visit there and I was quite impressed. The marina is huge, lots of boats moored. In addition there was some novelty use of boats I hadn’t seen before. The Book Barge (open Saturdays only), The Mug Tug for pottery painting, (ideal for grandchildren) and a barge which was an estate office!
An unusual building was the Red Carpet Cinema and café bar which specialises in meal and film deals.
We had our coffee and cakes in The Apple Tree café/restaurant overlooking the marina. It was spacious and had excellent décor, as well as food. I was interested to see they had special offers on Afternoon tea and Champagne breakfasts – I took leaflets home to put where my husband could see them!
There was an interesting range of rather upmarket shops to look round- an art gallery, butchers/local food, jewellery, crafts.
There was also a large lake that you could walk round, but we didn’t do that as it was windy and cold. I did notice a large flock of wigeon (winter ducks), so it is on my list of places to visit with binoculars on my own.
A recommended place to visit – perhaps combined with the Alrewas Arboretum which is nearby.
