Sheldon Country Park

Sheldon Country Park — a working farm, two brook valleys and the planes coming in low

Sheldon Country Park is 300 acres of grassland, wetland, ancient hedgerow and mature woodland in east Birmingham, and it manages to be two things at once. At its heart is a 17th-century farmhouse that still keeps Jersey cattle, pigs, goats and ponies, free to walk into any day of the year. A quarter of a mile away, at the north end of the runway, aircraft pass overhead low enough to read. Few city parks offer a milking herd and an approach path within the same walk.

Highlights

• Old Rectory Farm — the 17th-century timber-framed house, its frame infilled with brick in the 18th century, restored by the city and run as a free demonstration farm by the park rangers.
• The farm animals — Jersey cattle, ponies, pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys and poultry, kept and worked using traditional methods rather than displayed behind glass.
• The airport viewing area — publicly accessible open ground at the north end of the runway, about a quarter of a mile from the farm buildings and reachable on foot only, directly under the approach.
• Westley Brook and Hatchford Brook — the two watercourses that shape the park, with herons and kingfishers hunting them and the Bell Walk path following one of them through the grassland.
• The Kingfisher Country Park link — footpaths connect Sheldon to the River Cole corridor, an 11 km (6.8 mile) green route running from Small Heath to Chelmsley Wood.
• St Giles’ Church — the medieval church beside the park whose rectory the farmhouse originally was; its chancel arch is late 12th century, the nave dates from 1330 and the west tower from 1461.

What you’ll find

An unusually varied 120 hectares for a city park, and one of Birmingham’s larger country parks: open grazed grassland, wet ground along the brooks, hedge lines old enough to count as historic features, and blocks of mature trees. It is run by Birmingham City Council’s park rangers, with a Friends group organising seasonal events.

• A 5 km waymarked walking route around the park, plus a hard-surfaced accessible nature trail from the main car park.
• The farmyard, open free every day of the year apart from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
• A tea room at the farm serving hot drinks, lunches and cakes, with a seasonal ice cream cart outside.
• The Rectory Lawn picnic area for packed lunches, plus toilets near the farm buildings.
• A playground near the main entrance with swings, slides and two climbing frames.
• Woodpeckers, herons and kingfishers among the birds; foxes, rabbits and squirrels among the mammals.

Things to do — and who it’s for

• Families with small children — a real farmyard at no cost, a playground and a tea room, all within a few minutes of the car park.
• Plane spotters — a free, unfenced vantage point under the approach, with none of the cost or the queueing of a terminal viewing gallery.
• Walkers and runners — a 5 km circuit over almost flat ground, wide paths and no serious climbs, which makes it a good all-weather loop.
• Birdwatchers — brook corridors and wet grassland where kingfishers and herons work the water, best in the quiet hours.
• Dog owners — open ground and long hedgerow walks, though dogs are not allowed into the farmyard itself.
• History-minded visitors — a farmhouse, a medieval parish church and a blue plaque to one of the more remarkable clergymen of the 18th century, all in one corner.

Getting there & practical

The park lies in Sheldon in east Birmingham, immediately north of the airport and within sight of the terminal buildings. Marston Green station is a few minutes’ walk from one of the park entrances and about eight from the aircraft viewing ground; Birmingham International is the other nearby station, and frequent buses run out from the city centre through Sheldon. Entry to the park and the farm is free, and so is the car park. The park itself is open at all hours; the farm and tea room open daily from mid-morning to late afternoon, closing only on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The viewing area cannot be reached by car — it is a walk of roughly a quarter of a mile from the farm buildings. Allow an hour and a half for the farm and playground, or two to three hours to add the full circuit.

When to visit

Spring is the obvious season with children: young stock in the farmyard, blossom along the old hedge lines and the brooks running full. Summer brings the busiest skies of the year over the viewing ground, long evenings on the Rectory Lawn and the ice cream cart outside the tea room. Autumn is the best of the walking — hedgerow fruit, mist lying along the brook valleys in the early morning, and a 5 km circuit that stays firm underfoot. Winter is underrated here: the farm stays open every day but two, bare trees make kingfishers along the brooks far easier to spot, and cold clear air gives the sharpest views of aircraft on final approach.

Good to know

Sheldon’s Anglo-Saxon name means “shelf hill”; the manor appears as Scheldone in 1189 and is thought to be the Machitone of Domesday Book. The farmhouse at the centre of the park replaced an earlier moated hall and dates from the 17th century, its timber frame infilled with brick a century later and rendered to the appearance it has now. It began as the rectory of St Giles’ Church next door, but the incumbent found it too small, and it became a dairy farm instead. Its most famous resident stayed four decades: Dr Thomas Bray (1656–1730) came as rector of Sheldon in 1690 and lived at the Old Rectory, founded Sheldon’s first school in 1704, was appointed the Bishop of London’s commissary to Maryland and sailed there in 1700, and founded two institutions that outlived him by centuries — the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1698 and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. A blue plaque on the house records him. The farmland survived the suburb growing around it and the airport arriving at Elmdon in 1939, and Birmingham City Council opened the country park in 1986, restoring the farm buildings and running them as a demonstration farm. Just to the north, Project Kingfisher was inaugurated in 1985 to reclaim the valley of the River Cole; it was formally declared Kingfisher Country Park in July 2004 and now covers around 1,000 acres of river corridor run jointly by Birmingham City Council and Solihull, with water voles, mink, herons and kingfishers along it — and footpaths from Sheldon join it.

Visitor tips

• Check the wind before making a special trip for the aircraft: the viewing ground is at the north end of the runway, so it is at its best when arrivals are landing from that direction.
• Leave the dog at home or plan around the farmyard, which is the one part of the park where dogs are not allowed — and do not feed the animals, however much they suggest it.
• Combine the farm with the brook path rather than doubling back: the wetland stretches are where the herons and kingfishers are, and they are quietest early.

Questions & answers

Does it cost anything to visit the farm? No. Old Rectory Farm is free, every day of the year except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the park car park is free too.

What animals are kept there? Jersey cattle, ponies, pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys and poultry including chickens, geese and ducks, kept as a working demonstration of traditional farming.

Can you really watch planes from the park? Yes. There is a free public vantage point on open ground at the north end of the runway, about a quarter of a mile from the farm and reachable only on foot.

How do I get there by public transport? Marston Green station is a few minutes’ walk from a park entrance, Birmingham International is close by, and buses run frequently from the city centre through Sheldon.

Are dogs allowed? Yes in the park, on the paths and open grassland — but not inside the farmyard with the livestock.

How long is the walk around the park? The waymarked route is about 5 km on broad, largely level paths; there is also a shorter hard-surfaced nature trail from the main car park.

Is it accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs? Largely yes. The ground is flat, the main paths are wide, and the nature trail from the car park is hard-surfaced; toilets are by the farm buildings.