Waseley Hills Country Park

Waseley Hills Country Park — open hilltops and the spring where the River Rea begins

Waseley is the antidote to a wooded park: 150 acres of rolling grassland, thorn hedges and small copses on the south-western edge of Birmingham, just inside Worcestershire. There are no long tunnels of trees to walk through, only close-cropped hillside, sky and a horizon that runs from the Clent Hills to the Malverns. Two things make it more than a good view — the summit of Windmill Hill, and a modest spring in the valley below it that turns into the river Birmingham was founded on.

Highlights

• Windmill Hill — the park’s summit at roughly 286 m (938 ft), named for the windmill that once stood on it, with an uninterrupted 360-degree panorama.
• The AA viewpoint indicator — a concrete plinth topped with a metal plaque, erected by the Automobile Association on Windmill Hill in 1978 to name what you can see in every direction.
• The source of the River Rea — the spring where Birmingham’s founding river rises, marked by an information board explaining its 14-mile course to the River Tame.
• The Old Barn — a timber-framed threshing barn dated 1695, dismantled at Lower Smite Farm at Hindlip and rebuilt here to house the information centre, meeting room and Windmill Café.
• The Skylark Trail and the Rabbit Trail — a half-mile grass loop and a three-mile circuit with steep sections and steps, the short one named for the birds that sing over the grassland all summer.
• The watershed — the ridge divides the Rea valley from the headwaters of the River Salwarpe, sending rain that falls yards apart into two entirely different river systems.

What you’ll find

A working farmed landscape kept for the public: rolling grazed pasture, old hedge lines, scattered woodland pockets, and paths that go up rather than along. It is a Country Park and a Local Nature Reserve, managed by Worcestershire County Council’s countryside service.

• Two waymarked trails plus a permanent orienteering course laid out across the hills.
• Open grassland with skylarks overhead in spring and summer, and hedgerows thick with berries by autumn.
• The Windmill Café in the 1695 barn, serving hot food, cakes and — a local speciality — ice cream for dogs.
• An information centre and a meeting room available for hire, with rangers based on site.
• A children’s play area, picnic areas, benches placed at the best viewpoints, and interpretation boards.
• Two car parks with toilets, cycle parking and disabled parking; much of the core area is rolled stone and manageable with a pushchair.

Things to do — and who it’s for

• View-hunters — the shortest route to a genuine panorama anywhere on this side of Birmingham; Worcestershire to the west, the city to the east.
• Long-distance walkers — the North Worcestershire Path crosses the park towards Kingsford Country Park, and the Illey Way runs four and a half miles to Woodgate Valley; the Lickey Hills are walkable from here.
• Families — the half-mile Skylark Trail, the play area and a café, all within a few minutes of the car park.
• Runners and orienteers — steep grass gradients and a permanent course make this a proper training hill, not a flat circuit.
• Dog owners — open ground, few roads, and one of the few cafés in the county that serves dog ice cream.
• Geography-minded visitors — stand at the spring, then follow the Rea’s story on the board: 14 miles through Birmingham to the Tame, and on to the Trent.

Getting there & practical

The park sits above Rubery on Birmingham’s south-western edge, in Worcestershire and signposted from junction 4 of the M5. Buses from Birmingham city centre and Bromsgrove serve Rubery below the hills, and the Cross-City rail line at Longbridge and Barnt Green puts you within a bus ride. Entry on foot is free and the park is open at all hours, every day except Christmas Day; the two car parks are pay-and-display by the day, with free parking for Blue Badge holders, and they open and close on seasonal hours — earliest in midwinter, latest in high summer. The café and information centre in the barn open daily from mid-morning to late afternoon. Allow an hour for the Skylark Trail and the summit, or two to three hours for the full circuit.

When to visit

Spring is when the skylarks start and the hedgerows come into leaf, and the grass is short enough that every path is easy going. Summer gives the longest views and the warmest evenings on the top; the hillside is exposed, so this is also the season when shade is hardest to find. Autumn brings hedgerow fruit, low gold light across the grassland and the clearest air of the year for picking out the Malverns. Winter is the connoisseur’s season here: hard ground, frost on the ridge, and a horizon that on a cold bright day runs further than at any other time — though the wind on Windmill Hill has nothing at all to slow it down.

Good to know

The name is old: it is generally read as Old English for a sheep pasture or clearing, which is exactly what these slopes have been for most of their history. The park itself is recent. In 1970 the Worgan charitable trust, headed by Paul Cadbury of the Bournville family, offered around 100 acres of the hills for sale rather than see them developed; the land was bought for the public and, after several years of work, Hereford and Worcester County Council opened Waseley Hills Country Park at Easter 1976. The Automobile Association added its 360-degree viewpoint indicator to the summit of Windmill Hill in 1978. The barn that now holds the café and information centre is far older than the park: a timber-framed threshing barn of 1695, it was taken down at Lower Smite Farm at Hindlip and re-erected here, so visitors drink coffee inside a building that was already 280 years old when the park opened. The site is also a Local Nature Reserve, and its most quietly important feature is hydrological — the spring in the valley below Windmill Hill is the source of the River Rea, the river on which the Beorma settlement that became Birmingham was founded, and which still runs 14 miles north-east through the city to join the River Tame.

Visitor tips

• Dress for the top, not the car park: Windmill Hill is completely exposed and several degrees colder than the valley in any wind.
• Go up for the last hour of daylight — the low sun picks out the Clent Hills and the Malverns far better than the middle of the day.
• Walk the source of the Rea and the summit in one loop; they sit on opposite sides of the same short circuit and make the visit make sense.

Questions & answers

Is there an entry charge? No. Walking in is free at all hours; only the car parks are charged, by the day, and Blue Badge holders park free.

What can you see from Windmill Hill? A full 360 degrees — Birmingham and its skyline to the east, Worcestershire, the Clent Hills and the Malverns to the west and south — with the 1978 AA indicator naming the landmarks.

Where exactly does the River Rea start? At a spring in the valley below Windmill Hill, inside the park, signposted from the car park and explained on an information board.

How long are the walks? The Skylark Trail is about half a mile on unsurfaced grass with some steep parts; the Rabbit Trail is three miles with steep sections and steps.

Is there anywhere to eat? Yes — the Windmill Café inside the 1695 barn, open daily from mid-morning to late afternoon, serving hot meals, cakes and even ice cream for dogs.

Can I walk to the Lickey Hills from here? Yes. The North Worcestershire Path runs through Waseley and links the two country parks, and the Illey Way heads the other way to Woodgate Valley.

Is it suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs? Partly. The core area near the barn is rolled stone and manageable, and there is disabled parking and an accessible toilet, but the trails are grass, steep in places, and the Rabbit Trail has steps.