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Waseley and Clent Hills, Birmingham

Difficulty Leisurely

Walking time 5 hours

Length 14.8km / 9.2mi

Route developer: John Clift

Route checker: Philip Cheesewright

Start location Waseley Hills country park
Route Summary A walk along the hills that hide the Birmingham conurbation from the countryside of north Worcestershire. There are good views out to the Welsh border as well as toward the city. The hills are particularly attractive in the bluebell season.
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Getting there

The nearest bus stop to the Waseley Hills visitor centre is about a mile away in Boleyn Road, Frankley (adjacent to Crompton Road). The 63 bus from Birmingham city centre serves this stop from Monday to Saturday as does the 202 bus from Bromsgrove to Halesowen. On Sunday the 61 bus serves a stop at Gannow Shopping Centre, Ormond Road, a little further away. 

The country park is signposted from the A491 west of junction 4 on the M5. 

Description

[1] From the Visitor Centre in the country park exit via the car park into Gannow Green Lane (there is a pedestrian entrance to the left of the car park exit road). Turn left and walk over the motorway bridge. Turn right into Newtown Lane - take care, blind corner - and almost immediately take a signposted footpath on the left.

Follow the footpath along the edge of arable fields keeping the hedge on your right. At the bottom of the second field the hedge curves right but the footpath cuts the corner. At the far side of the field do not go across the first stile but walk 60m round the edge of the field with the hedge on your right until you reach three steps down to another stile. On the far side of the stile the path continues along the right hand edge of a field to reach a track leading to a fishing lake.

Go ahead through the rough ground to the left of the lake to a kissing gate and then diagonally across the next field. Go through the gap then follow a farm track round to the left and right to reach a slight bank marking the boundary between two fields. Go up the left of the bank then veer slightly left to reach a stile near the corner of Ell Wood. Crossing the next field diagonally left, you reach Bromsgrove Road, Romsley beside the Swallows Nest public house.

[2] Go up Poplar Lane, which is slightly to your left on the opposite side of Bromsgrove Road. At the top of the slope, just past a small side turning, take a signposted footpath on the left, through a kissing gate. At the top of a field go through another kissing gate and turn right. Follow the right hand hedge line through rough grassland then a small wooded area and alongside grassy fields. Go though a kissing gate to emerge on Fieldhouse Lane.

On you right there are views towards Birmingham. You should be able to identify the city centre from the tower blocks and the Telecomms Tower. 

Turn left and walk a few metres along the lane to a signposted footpath on the right. Follow the path alongside arable fields to Ivy Lane, keeping the hedgerow on your left. Walk left along Ivy Lane to the T junction and turn right. 

[3] At the next T junction go right. The road you are following (Walton Hill Road) skirts round Walton Hill (you will visit the summit on the return leg). Continue through a roadside car park and turn left at the next T junction onto St Kenelm's Pass. You should see another small car park on the right hand side of the road. Go through this car park to reach a track giving access to the National Trust Clent Hill Estate. The main track makes a steady ascent diagonally up the hillside. Keep to the main track, disregarding other paths to left and right. Eventually the path turns right and levels out by a marker post with an orange arrow. Shortly afterwards you join the wide ridge-top drive. Turn left and you will shortly reach the summit at the Four Stones.

Alternative route between [3] and [4] with less road walking. 50m after the road junction at [3], take a footpath on the right which goes straight downhill through an arable field. At the bottom corner of the field go over a stile and turn left along St Kenelm's Road. Turn left again onto Chapel Lane. Turn right on the path to St Kenelm's church. (A right of way runs along the edge of the churchyard but it is easier to keep to the main path). Turn left by the church tower and shortly turn right following a footpath waymark. Carry straight on over two grassy fields to reach a farm track. Turn left onto the track and shortly right onto a footpath. Aim for a stile in a fence line but turn left onto a cross path just before you reach the fence. Follow the new path, aiming for beech woods on the skyline. When you reach a road turn left and shortly right onto a path which climbs up into the woods. Continue along the ridge path to the Four Stones.

(A) The Four Stones were erected in 1773 by the 1st Lord Lyttleton of nearby Hagley Hall to provide a point of interest in the landscape. He was also responsible for the Wychbury Obelisk which can be seen on the next hill to the north west, and the castle folly which is downhill just to the north west . There is a superb view from here out to the west. There is a toposcope giving the bearings of the surrounding landmarks.

[4] There are three main ridge paths leading down from the Four Stones. Take the one down to the left looking from the toposcope towards the stones, which is waymarked as part of the North Worcestershire Path. Fork to the right of a fenced-in group of trees to a point where display panels have been erected to help you recognise features in the landscape. At this point you leave the North Worcestershire Path and head slightly left down a broad grassy ridge. There are tracks heading off on either side but you should stay on the main path which keeps to the top of the ridge.

[5] Eventually the broad grassy ridge comes to an end. The track carries on with bushes on either side. Ignore a path to the left (unless you want the alternative path - see  below) and a turning on the right leading down into a valley with car parking and the Hill Tavern public house. Continue in the same direction as before to reach a triangular junction of tracks where you turn left. Almost immediately turn left again up to a stile beside a gate. Go over the stile onto a grassy slope. Follow the right hand boundary downhill to find another stile beside a gate. Go over the stile and turn left once you reach Odnall Lane. Walk along Odnall Lane to the cross-roads. 

(B) This is the small but pretty village of Clent, which contains some interesting houses and St. Leonard's church. 

Go straight over into Walton Pool Lane and immediately take the footpath that leads off the driveway of the first house past the church. This runs along the churchyard wall and out into a field where you start a steady climb up Walton Hill. Keep on the ridge top through a kissing gate into a second field and up to a wood.

Alternatively, take the steeper route between [5] and [6], avoiding road walking. A soon as the grassy ridge comes to an end at [5], there is a junction on the left. One path slopes diagonally down the hillside, back the way you have come, but you take the right hand smaller path, starting at the same point and descending directly down the slope. Cross a stream and climb a track on the far side which makes a left turn as it crosses the end of a ridge. Follow the track steadily downwards to reach a road. On the opposite side of this road, just right of Clatterbach Lane is the start of a permissive path through the National Trust woodland on Walton Hill. The path first climbs parallel to the woodland edge but it then turns left and winds through the trees to join a public footpath at the top of the wood. Turn left here to rejoin the main route.

[6] The path enters woodland, part of the National Trust estate on Walton Hill and continues upwards, with a fence line on the right. Ignore two left turns into the wood. When the ground levels into a patch of scrub, follow the main path slightly left up the ridge top to reach the highest point on Walton Hill, marked by a triangulation point.

(C) At 315 metres, this is the highest point in the Clent Hills.

[7] Turn round at the triangulation point but follow the path along the left of the ridge top towards a farmhouse (Waltonhill Farm). The next section of the walk follows the North Worcestershire Path and you can follow the pine cone waymarks. Bear left to meet the farm drive and go through the stile opposite. Go right across a small paddock to a kissing gate. The path now runs along the top of a steep slope above the valley of the Belne Brook.

1km from the farm, at the far end of a wooded section go through a kissing gate and turn left down the hillside, ignoring the well-marked path ahead. This section is known as Calcot Hill. Go though another kissing gate and keep to the left hand side of a low ridge, aiming for a group of trees in the bottom left of the next field. There is a third kissing gate beyond the trees which brings you out into Shut Mill Lane.

[8] Turn right and then left into Winwood Heath Road. Follow the road to its junction with Farley Lane. It is quite a steep climb through woodland.

[9] Turn right into Farley Lane. When you reach the last house on the left hand side, turn left into a field and go diagonally across to a stile 50m from the left hand hedge. Then follow the right hand hedge line down through more fields. This brings you to the B4451 Bromsgove Road just north of the Manchester Inn. Turn right and walk past the inn. On the left there is a turning with a No Through Road sign. Cross (with care) and walk up here and over a motorway bridge. Carry on past the buildings of Chapmans Farm. Here the North Worcestershire Path turns left at a large corrugated iron barn, but you carry straight on along a bridleway to a field gate where the track turns sharp left downhill and is composed of rounded pebbles - take care. The path crosses a small stream. 

[10] Just after this point turn left onto a permissive path running up a small valley. After crossing a boardwalk you enter the Waseley Hills country park. Turn right onto a path along the edge of Segbourne Coppice. Go through a gate and follow the bottom of a grassy valley up to a ridge. Ignore the attractions of the Rabbit Trail which turns right, and head left along the ridge to the highest point on Windmill Hill which is marked by a toposcope. The path back to the starting point by the Visitor Centre should now be visible directly ahead of you. 

If you are travelling by bus, The country park has an extension to the east with a tarmac path running from the far end of the car park to the end of Boleyn Road.

POI information

The whole range of hills is formed by an outcrop of a hard rock called Clent breccia. This is a type of compacted gravel and must have been laid down in a desert river around 280 million years ago. Below the breccia is a layer of clay so once erosion has removed the breccia cap if proceeds quickly through the clay, producing the characteristic steep sided valleys.

The areas around the summits of Clent Hill (also known as Adams Hill) and Walton Hill were upland commons from the medieval period. With the industrial revolution the growing population of nearby towns looked to the hills for recreation. Providing access to visitors without spoiling the essential character of the hills has been a problem ever since. In 1959 the two commons were handed over to the National Trust.

Waseley Hills country park is run by Worcestershire County Council. The land was acquired in stages with purchases involving the Cadbury family, the Bournville Village Trust and the National Trust. The North Worcestershire Path is promoted by Worcestershire County Council and information about it can be obtained from the Visitor Centre.

More general information on the Clent Hills and the interesting legend of St Kenelm who was reputedly murdered here can be gleaned from Wikipedia.

A very detailed history of Clent can be found at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-327-1/dissemination/html/Clent.html

Notes

The Visitor Centre at Waseley Hills country park has a cafe and toilets.

Acknowledgements No details available.
  • The Four Stones
    The Four Stones
    By - John Clift
  • Descending Clent Hill
    Descending Clent Hill
    By - John Clift
  • The view from Calcot Hill
    The view from Calcot Hill
    By - John Clift
  • Segbourne Coppice in the spring
    Segbourne Coppice in the spring
    By - John Clift
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