Kingshurst

Along the River Cole

Babbs Mill Local Nature Reserve sits on Fordbridge Road: a lake, wildflower grassland, woodland, and the River Cole winding through the middle of it. It was laid out in 1977 for the Queen's Silver Jubilee, became a Local Nature Reserve in 2002, and flies a Green Flag. There's a children's play area and a circular path you can do without effort. For a guest staying in Kingshurst, it's the best thing within walking distance.

The rest of the green runs along the river. Kingfisher Country Park is a linear park that follows the Cole for nearly seven miles, from Small Heath in Birmingham up to the M6 at Chelmsley Wood. The name is earned — kingfishers, herons, water voles and otters have all been recorded along it, and foxes, deer and badgers turn up in the wider area.

Post-war Kingshurst

Kingshurst itself is not a village in the picturesque sense. It's a post-war estate: Birmingham Corporation bought the land in 1949 to rehouse families bombed out of the city, the first time it built homes outside its own boundary. The streets are 1950s and 60s council housing, maisonettes and — once — tower blocks. The 1960s shopping precinct was demolished in 2023 and the centre is still being rebuilt, so everyday shopping runs to a supermarket, a chemist and takeaways, with Chelmsley Wood and Solihull close by for anything larger.

The Toby Jug is one of the few estate pubs left standing. It's a community local rather than a gastropub — large car park, a spacious beer garden, a play area, and according to the listing a bouncy castle. For a proper country pub with a menu, drive out to Meriden, Barston or Hampton-in-Arden.

Connected for events and flights

What you're mostly here for is the position. Marston Green station is about a mile and a half away on the line into New Street, and the NEC, Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International station all sit three or four miles south by the M42, with the M6 close behind.

A royal-manor name

The name goes back to a royal manor: King's wood. There was once a moated hall here, and a Boy Scout camp with griffin statues from Lewis's department store at its gate. Both are long gone.

Names from Kingshurst

Gary Shaw, who won the European Cup with Aston Villa in 1982, was born on Meriden Drive. So was the rapper Lady Leshurr. It's that kind of place — quiet streets that turn out to have produced people you've heard of.