Route developed by: FW / TH
[1] Walk out of the college onto Bordesley Green. Turn left along Bordesley Green, past the Lidl supermarket then turn left into Fordrough Lane. Walk to the end of this tree lined residential road. At the junction with Cherry Wood Road turn right and cross over the railway bridge into Bridge Road.
Towards the end of road past the primary school you can see how well (A) St. Peters College building has been converted. When the original college campus could not cope with the expanding student numbers: a new, much larger, South Birmingham College was built nearby. Hence the old building was converted to residential flats and apartments. So successful was the care taken to conserve the architectural integrity that, today, the building stands in all its grandeur, especially viewed from the front gate in College Road.
On the way look at the way the wall has been rearranged with large boulders laid on top of smaller stones in stretches to recycle the original stones to raise the height for its residential role.
[2] Having admired this grand old building at College Road turn right and then take the second right into Couchman Road and take the fourth road right from Couchman Road into Anthony Road.
Here, we are in a part of the city so badly bombed by the Luftwaffe, that, post war, it was extensively rebuilt with a new layout and high rise flats for an entirely new population.
[3] Walk up Anthony Road and take the first left into Alexander Way, opposite City College. After a short walk there is a grass park with benches and a children’s play area. Walk through to exit onto Ludlow Road and go right across a wide footbridge over the railway. Keep right past the skateboard park up Geranium way to meet Whitacre Road, at the end cross and turn left down Pretoria Road, cross it and walk to an alley between houses numbered 126 and128. This leads to Fordrough Lane emerging between houses 86 and 88. We go left: down to the end where we can see the Lidl shop sign. Go right onto Bordesley Green Road, retracing your steps back to the college.