Sutton Park and Sutton Coldfield Walk for the Public on 4 October

P LEASE NOTE THAT THE DURATION OF THIS EVENT SHOWN ABOVE IS ONLY APPROXIMATE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED; IT WILL DEPEND ON FACTORS SUCH AS THE WEATHER AND THE WALKING PACE OF THE GROUP.

Join this leisurely ramble with a Birmingham Ramblers group leader and enjoy social walking with our friendly members.

It is very helpful for the walk leader to have prior knowledge of numbers that will be on this walk. We ask you to complete this very brief form to help with our planning of the walk to ensure that we can safely accommodate all who wish to join us. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement when you submit this form, and also a reminder of the details 2 days before the walk.

Walk leader: Sheila Lyons

Meeting arrangements:

By Bus: The 907 bus leaves Corporation Street by the Square Peg at 9.40 am (bus stop PQ2) and arrives at Boldmere Road at 10.13 am. The walk leader will meet you here for the short walk to Boldmere Gate. (Please check bus times before travelling).

If travelling by car: Boldmere Gate is located at the end of Stonehouse Road, B73 6LH. There is car parking just inside the park. Please note, that whilst car parking is currently free, there are plans to introduce a charge which is likely to be £1 an hour or £5 all day.

Walk Description:

This walk is adapted from Walk19, Birmingham Hidden Walks by Robert Ankcorn and Ruby Compton-Davies. It will be a circular walk of around 5 ½ miles and includes some walking in Sutton Park and also through the town to the High Street Conservation Area with other interesting buildings to see on the way. Please bring a snack and drink.

Sutton Park is a 2,400-acre National Nature Reserve It’s one of the largest urban parks in Europe and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The park has open heathland, woodlands, lakes, wetlands, and marshes of plants and wildlife. Cattle and wild ponies graze on the land. The High Street Conservation Area was for many years the hub of what was then the small market town of Sutton Coldfield and where a number of the old buildings still stand.

We begin our walk near to Powell’s Pool, which is the largest of the park's 7 pools. We make our way to Wyndley Pool which is home to many water birds. Then, leaving the park here, make our way up Wyndley Lane and the Driffold which brings us to the top of the town and the Smithy. This building is one of the oldest in Sutton Coldfield dating from the 15th century. From here, we walk through the town to the main shopping centre (where there are toilets) up Mill Street to the High Street conservation area. From here, we will walk go to the Town Hall and war memorial and down to Sutton Park Town Gate. There are benches here and a snack and drinks kiosk where we stop for a break. From here we make our way back to Boldmere Gate and the conclusion of our walk.

Expressions of Interest for this walk will close at 06.00 on Thursday 2 October. After this, please email bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com to enquire about any late availability for the walk.

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If you later find that you are unable to join us it would be helpful if you let us know by sending an email to bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com - this will be passed on to the walk leader and will prevent any delay to the start of the walk should the leader be waiting for you. Please note that some walks have a waiting list so tickets are NOT TRANSFERABLE; if you are unable to join us then please cancel your place to free it up for someone who may be on the waiting list rather than passing it to someone else.

General Information

This is one of several walks and activities offered by the Birmingham Ramblers. If you have found this page through a web search or other means and would like to find out more about the group then please visit the Birmingham Ramblers web site; new members are always welcome.