Short Walk: The Royal Town: Sutton Park & Sutton Coldfield

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 parks 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. As this Saturday Walk is partly through the shopping area and narrow pavements in the conservation area, can we limit numbers to no more than 15.