Stairway to Heaven

Regular visitors will know that my blog is founded on the twin themes of good food and great music. When I discovered, therefore, that Warwick (where I am staying while at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games) has a great cafe at the end of a walk known locally as the ‘Stairway to Heaven’, I just had to pay a visit. And let me say straight away that there are no prizes for guessing the latest track to be added to the ADK Spotify Playlist.

The walk in question is a canal towpath alongside Hatton Locks – a flight of 21 individual basins within which the water level is made to rise and fall through the opening and closing of lock gates. This enables canalboats to gradually negotiate a total climb of 45 metres over a distance of 4km, via a series of steps.

It starts at Bottom Lock, continues through Middle Lock and (you guessed it) ends at Top Lock, which is where Hatton Locks Cafe is situated, in an old red brick cottage. It really is a lovely location, with fine views, and has a lot of character – the small cafe building crammed with canal boating memorabilia.

Two particular points I found noteworthy about the cafe. Firstly, it has one of the best ranges of speciality teas that I have come across in a cafe of this size. After some deliberation, our eventual selections were a strawberry and raspberry infusion, and a green tea. Secondly, the chalkboard outside implores you to try one of Debbie’s famous home-made scones. Tempted, we did indeed give one a try, with butter, and it was delicious (so thank you, Debbie).

Initially I had presumed that the name given by the local boatmen was inspired by the famous song. However, the canal has been here since 1799, and Led Zeppelin IV wasn’t released until 1971, so this can’t have been so. Maybe it was the other way round? This is not so far-fetched – the band are originally from the West Midlands after all. Is it possible therefore that this is the place that inspired what many of Led Zep’s fans consider to be the band’s finest hour?

I pictured Jimmy Page sitting here at a picnic table, taking in the beautiful views as he picked out the first few bars of that famous intro on his acoustic guitar. While sipping a lemon and ginger tea. And munching on one of Debbie’s scones.

It makes me wonder…