I visited Staffordshire's thriving 'dog-walking village' full of friendly faces and wagging tails
A short detour off the A5 led me to a village far livelier and friendlier than I ever expected.
It's not very often that I have no experience whatsoever of a town or village on my list for this weekly excursion to local towns and villages.
But my only experience of the small South Staffordshire village of Wheaton Aston is passing the sign pointing off the A5 between Telford and Cannock.
For the few minutes after I turned off Watling Street and drove down the quiet country lane towards the unknown, I pictured a handful of houses centred around a village hall - or, if they were really lucky, a pub.
How surprising it was then to see a fully fledged townlet appear out of the autumnal-tinted agricultural landscape. My second surprise came moments later in the form of not just one, but two pubs.
Despite its location in the heart of the Staffordshire countryside, the 2,600 or so residents of Wheaton Aston and the surrounding hamlets are well served by amenities including a medical practice, a garage, a hairdresser's, a barbershop, two convenience stores and - of course - a village hall.
There's a little primary school too, which is the term-time home to around 150 students. After its last Ofsted inspection, the "welcoming school" was praised for fostering "warm relationships", with pupils encouraged by a motto to "be more awesome".
It's a sentiment that might have rubbed off on the local population, as the village was full of friendly faces ready to welcome me warmly.
There were two things I noted about the handful of residents I stopped to chat with: the first, how much they loved the town's two pubs (the Coach & Horses and The Hartley Arms); and the second, how many of them had dogs.
"We're very dog-friendly. A neighbouring town calls us the dog-walking village," said one of the landlords of The Hartley Arms, Faye Peace, who guessed that every other house had a four-legged friend.
Faye and her husband, Ben, took over the pub two and a half years ago. It was a full-circle moment for the pair, with Ben's grandparents having run the pub in the '80s.
She added: "Ben and I are both Wheaton Aston born and bred, we both grew up in the village so we know a lot of the locals very well.
"When I was a kid growing up, I thought it was one of the most boring places in the world. But then you go and see other parts of the world and you think 'I'm so lucky that I got to grow up here'."
Reeling off a long list of community events manned by a thriving volunteering network, Faye said: "There's a real sense of community, there is always someone looking out for someone else."
"The people are lovely," agreed Paige Carter, manager of 11:11 Salon, "everyone is friendly, it's got a good community, everyone supports each other."
What I expected to be a quick stop in a sleepy hamlet turned out to be a two-hour visit to a village bursting with life, community pride and - to my absolute delight - lots and lots of dogs.
It’s safe to say this 'unknown' is now firmly on my list of favourites.
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