Distance: 12.3 miles

Difficulty of the Terrain: Medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Varied suburban, exurban and rural walk from the large town of Sutton Coldfield in north Birmingham, to the small, and immensley historic cathedral city of Lichfield. Passes near the Anglo-Saxon hill settlement of Shenstone and some Roman remains at Wall along the way.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Small City, Big History

With a population of slightly over 30,000 Lichfield is one of England’s smaller cities. However, with a history stretching back to Roman times, when Icknield Street crossed Watling Street, very near where the city stands today it has a long and storied past. In the 18th Century it was the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, David Garrick and Erasmus Darwin. One hundred years earlier, only a generation before the city and it’s fortified Cathedral Close were the subject of a major siege during the Civil War, gruesomely, the city was where the radical anabaptist Edward Wightman became the last person to be burnt at the stake in England for heresy.

In more recent times, a fast railway connection and the construction of the M6 Toll a few miles south of the city’s boundary, has brought the city firmly into the West Midlands conurbation’s commuter belt. With it’s fairly intact historic centre and unusual three spired cathedral, set within an impressive Close, it is a “thinking person’s” equivalent of Bromsgrove or Solihull. The Cathedral, historic sites and a few decent cafes, bars and pubs make it a worthwhile place to spend an afternoon or evening, but there perhaps is not quite enough for a weekend.

Thanks to Birmingham’s Cross City Line it is pretty easy, and pretty cheap to get up to Lichfield from Birmingham. It is slightly over half an hour from Birmingham New Street, and maybe fifty minutes from near where I live in south Birmingham. I decided however, that I’d have a go at walking there, from the north Birmingham town of Sutton Coldfield, across the greenbelt no-man’s land of south east Staffordshire, to Lichfield, zigzagging my way around and across various pieces of major infrastructure.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

To begin the walk it makes sense to start from Sutton Coldfield Station where the Cross City Line disgorges travellers near the town’s centre.

By most socio-demographic indicators the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield is by far the most affluent part of Birmingham. It was a separate borough until 1974, and it is very much the kind of place, like the Wirral where my Mum’s family comes from, where they still definitely write the pre-1972 Local Government Act county on their addresses. A few years ago, a parish council was set-up covering the town, and there are those who hope – like a mini-Scottish Parliament – that this is the first step towards it becoming a separate district under Warwickshire County Council. Though, as a friend of mine said when he and I went for a walk around Sutton Park and I mentioned this, leaving Birmingham for that probably “isn’t the flex they think it is”.

Upon leaving the station buildings head across the forecourt, take a slight right and head straight along Railway Road.

After a few moments walking you come to a t-junction at which point Railway Road joins High Street.

Here, turn left and start walking north.

You remain on High Street for roughly fifteen minutes. During this phase of the walk you pass several interesting mid-20th Century municipal buildings on the left hand side of the road including a police station and a fire station. Relics of the time when Sutton Coldfield was outside of Birmingham.

Having passed these, on the right stands Bishop Vessey’s School. A rare surviving example outside a handful of redoubts like Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Kent, of a fully state maintained grammar school. There is fair chance that it would not still exist in this form if the town had remained in Warwickshire…

After these civic structures the road becomes a lot more residential in character. The large, generally well maintained Victorian townhouses, Edwardian villas and vaguely Tudorbethean post-war detached properties, signifying Sutton Coldfield’s long standing status as one of Birmingham’s more affluent dormitories.

Presently you come to Tamworth Road, the A453, which heads off on your right, shortly after Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Turn right down here and into further tracts of suburbia.

After several minutes walking you pass under a bridge which carries the Cross City Line heading north.

About fifteen minutes after the bridge, the houses having got bigger and bigger, and further and further spaced apart, you emerge on the edge of the built up area.

On your right up a slightly hill stands Wheatmoor Farm, to your left hidden behind trees, lie the grounds of Ashfurlong Hall.

Having crossed over a cross road and carried straight along the Tamworth Road, the pavement peters out, but the grass verge is perfectly easily walkable.

On the day that I walked it, in mid-December about a week and half before Christmas, there were some slightly alarming tire tracks on the verge in places, as if drivers from time-to-time swerved onto the side of the road. However, it being just after 11:00 on a sunny day for December, I was relatively unconcerned by this.

Presently a layby can be observed on the left hand side of the road.

Just before the layby there stands a footpath sign.

Cross over the road at this point and cross over a style just after where the footpath sign points into the field beyond.

Follow the well made path across the field, passing frequently across a series of styles (like the below).

Presently after no more than ten minutes or so, you reach a quiet lane.

Cross over the lane and continue along the footpath immediately opposite where you have come out.

After a short while this leads you into the milking yard and cowsheds of a dairy farm.

The farmer has very clearly marked where you may, and where you may not walk.

Having crossed the farmyard you emerge into the carpark of Chase Farm Cafe, a farm shop and cafe from which you may wish to get refreshments if you have not got any with you. There are not many places to get refreshments on the stages of the walk.

Having crossed the Chase Farm Cafe car park you emerge onto Weeford Road.

Turn right here and walk towards the crossroads located a little way up the road from where you have just exited the car park.

Once you reach the crossroad, cross over the road (it’s quite busy but there are traffic lights), and keep on walking down Weeford Road which continues on the far side of the crossroads.

Having crossed over the road you, on the left hand side you will see a newish housing estate. There is a pavement on this side of the road, which is handy.

Eventually you leave the housing estate behind and enter a more rural stretch of road. There are a few farms and some scattered cottages around, but little else by way of dwellings.

As you continue along Weeford Road however, on your right the bulk of a raised section of the M6 Toll looms closer on your right, at roughly the same level as the treeline with all of the attendant noise of traffic whooshing by.

Presently the road noticeably begins to slope downwards towards the weathered concrete and metal railings of a bridge carrying a local road underneath the motorway.

Once you reach the bottom of this slope where Weeford Road joins Camp Road turn left.

You then walk along Camp Road for around fifteen to twenty minutes. I was walking at a little after midday on a weekday and found this section one of the trickiest of the walk. This was because of the sheer volume of traffic using the road, the lack of pavement and the fact that there are numerous tight bends and it is hard for two vehicles (especially as some heavy lorries use the road as well as cars and vans) to pass each other. In short it has all of the worst qualities of a road in the greenbelt, fast vehicles, not attuned to walkers, and limited verges on the sides of the road.

After a period of steady walking along the side of the road on your right a large transmission mast looms up over some woodland. This is a sign that you are approaching the footpath that enables you to leave the road for the pleasanter environment of the fields beyond.

The woodland ends more or less where the road lies with a little bit of coverage provided by a thin strand of trees on the Staffordshire side.

Having passed these trees, look on your right for a gate with a large red notice on it leading onto a field.

Once in the field follow the outline of the path across it, towards a tiny straggly copse on the other side.

Here you will find another gate which leads through into the fields beyond.

It is not immediately obvious at this point where the footpath lies. The hedgerow and field layout at this point offers two viable options each of which looks equally trampled.

However, the Ordnance Survey advises that the footpath runs on the left hand side of the hedgerow, so take this route.

The field that you walk along the edge of steady widdens out opening up a vista which seems far more rural than most of the walk so far.

After a short way you come to a gate which leads through into another field.

With its long grasses this one feels a little more primordial. There was also on the day I walked the route, a flock of sheep which is grazing here and there across its width.

At the far side you come to a gate leading out onto a lane, which serves a couple of farms located to your right.

I struggled to open the side gate for walkers, so ended up climbing over the larger gate for livestock and vehicles. In some ways this was just as well because the sheep were quite curious as sheep go and I was a little worried about avoiding them escaping after me.

On the other side of the gate turn left and walk a short way down the lane.

Here after a little way on your right you will see a footpath sign pointing into a field and up a short steep hill.

Having passed through the gate, head up the hill beyond.

Once at the top follow the path round heading in the direction of some woodland. These trees are called Manley Wood.

By this point with the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral just about visible in the distance, the ancient village of Shenstone a little nearer on the horizon, a tractor cutting back a hedgerow in the valley below and a woman slowly trotting past me on horseback, I felt that I was far away from the West Midlands conurbation.

Presently, having walked across and down the hill, at the bottom of the slope you come to a metal gate which leads to the edge of Manley Wood.

Passing through the gate a small cottage is visible on the other side of a long narrow field.

Just before you come to the cottage there is another metal gate which leads onto a well trodden path beyond.

Walk up this pathway through the trees.

You come to the end of a driveway, cross this and carry on up the clearly marked out track in front of you.

Stay on this track for around ten to fifteen minutes. The track is pot-holed from its use by motor vehicles but it overwise a good road surface.

This track offers glimpses of an interesting array of land uses of the kind typically found on the edge of a conurbation. At one point the edge of a Christmas tree plantation, heavily defended with CCTV cameras can be seen. At another the gleaming green sheds and ammonia smells, of a large, efficient looking, and chillingly grim, battery farm hoves into view. It is incredibly silent apart from the slow hum of the machinery running the life support systems, the ammonia smell the only clear sign that it is farming lifeforms.

Having hurried past the sheds you come to a gateway which leads out onto a country lane. This is wooded with a narrow, but fast flowing brook running at the bottom of the shallow valley.

Here, turn right and walk down the road for a few moments.

Presently the trees clear and another sight of a massive concrete bridge carrying the M6 Toll enters your line of sight.

Before you reach the motorway however, a footpath sign points to your left.

The sign points into what looks like the garden of a private dwelling, however, the Ordnance Survey advises that this is undoubtedly a public footpath.

Having crossed the style located next to the gate onto the driveway, cross over a concrete bridge across the brook.

Then make your way up the driveway and passing the house and outbuildings.

Presumably the owners of this little estate are quite used to people tramping up their pathway, however, I thought it polite not to linger, although it seemed that the property was empty on the day that I walked through.

After the house you continue up the concrete roadway.

This then leads out opposite another property. From here walk along the gravel lined path leading in front of the house.

Which presently turns into a lane leading towards a wind turbine which turns in the distance.

This in turn opens out onto a field.

Having entered the field, a path is visible across where the crops are planted to the other side where a bank, and a stand of trees and assorted shrubbery screens the motorway from view.

Once you reach the other side of the field, follow a fairly well worn track along the wooden fence for a short distance.

After a little while, the fence takes a sharp turn to your right.

Continue to follow it a short way until you come to a fence line.

There is a walkway enclosed by wooden fences, which are increasingly dilapidated, as they must have been erected around twenty years ago when the M6 Toll was built.

These lead you around a field, hugging close to the trees which screen the top of the motorway embankment.

Having emerged from this stockade, you are at the bottom of a track which slopes uphill. Head up this track.

This leads onto a bridge over the motorway.

Once you have crossed, carry on down the lane on the other side of the bridge.

After a couple of minutes walking a style with a footpath sign next to it is visible ahead of you on your left.

Having crossed this style you find yourself on the edge of the A5. This is an incredibly busy road running parallel with the M6 Toll. It has a long history following the line of the old Roman Watling Street. Maybe that is why it is so straight?

Once there is a gap in the traffic large enough for you to safely cross the carriageway, head across the road.

Safety on the other side, turn left and walk along the verge beside the road for a short distance.

Keep an eye out on your left hand side for a footpath sign and a way of crossing into the adjacent field.

Having found the style and it’s accompanying sign, cross over into the field beyond.

Once in the field look for a pathway through the growing crops and begin heading up the hill.

Walk all the way across the field and up the hill in the direction of a stand of trees at the top.

When you reach the top of the hill and the stand of trees, find a gap in the vegetation that allows you to cross down onto the impressively Anglo Saxon sounding Swinfen Lane.

It is worth pausing at this point to look back at the distance you have come. The transmitter at Sutton Coldfield is visible on the distant horizon and you can get a good view of Shenstone, clustered on it’s hill around the Saxon church St. John the Baptist, which has a distinctive tower.

Following it across field boundaries, along the top of the ridge.

Presently the Lane widens out from a footpath into something more akin to a farm track.

At the bottom of this stands a metal gate which leads out onto the quiet Old London Road.

Turn right at this point and head up the lane.

After a short distance a cluster of old farm buildings is visible through the hedges on your left.

Having walked a little further follow the footpath sign that is visible on your left.

This left turn takes you down a lane towards the old farm buildings.

These have evidently been transformed into a series of house conversions. Very handy for the local road network.

Having reached the edge of these properties, take a right turn and continue following the track down a short slope.

At the bottom of this slope there stands a gate blocking off access to a grassy lane.

Pass through this gate and climb upwards along the gentle slope through the tree and bush lined lane.

At the top there is a bridge, much like the one you crossed a short while earlier, which carries you over the A5148 which serves as Lichfield’s eastern bypass.

Coming down the other side you can get a glimpse of some of it’s spires now beginning to appear closer.

Once at the bottom of the parallel slope, keep left and follow the path which runs close to the fence blocking off the top of the embankment beneath which runs the A5148.

Presently a path is visible running up the short, steep hill to you right.

Head up this path.

At the top of the hill look out for the broken down style and waymarker which points onto the neighbouring field.

Having crossed into the neighbouring field follow the line of the hedgerow.

After several minutes of fairly easy walking this leads you onto a field with some (slightly worrying) low hanging power lines.

Follow the tyre rutted track across this field under the power cables on the far side you will come to a gate.

Pass through this gate beyond which stands the Birmingham Road.

On the other side, ever so slightly up from where you stand, a lane lined by trees and high hedgerows is visible.

Cross over the road and head a short way down this lane.

After a few moments walking along the lane, a turning onto a tyre rutted track is visible on your right.

Head onto this side of the lane and take this turning onto the tyre rutted track.

Here you have once again found yourself near the Cross City Line which is carried by a bridge over the trackway.

Walk under the bridge and continue along the trackway.

Presently this leads out onto a track which runs across the top of a massive field.

It is worth pausing again at this point to admire the view looking south towards Birmingham.

It is also possible to glimpse the village of Wall to the south of where you are standing. Wall is where Watling Street and Icknield Street joined in Roman times – proof of how long Lichfield has been an infrastructure hub. Wall is famous for containing the fairly well preserved ruins of a kind of Roman service station.

After some further walking the track has some concrete paving which makes the going a bit easier.

This leads up to a gateway.

Having passed through the gateway turn right and begin walking up the road beyond.

This steadily leads you up a hill. After no more than ten minutes of steady walking you reach the top of it.

From here Lichfield, and it’s ever expanding, thanks to property developer’s outskirts stretch before you.

It is now a pretty straightforward matter just to follow the road down, through the housing estates and into Lichfield. The centre is no more than a fifteen to twenty minute walk away at this point.

Getting Back

Trains run from Lichfield City Station, every 20-30 minutes back to Birmingham along the Cross City Line until approximately 23:00. If you intend to remain until Lichfield until later than this it is worth checking the timetable to be certain of whether you can get back. My single back to Selly Oak Station in south Birmingham cost £4.65 in December 2021 with a 26-30 Railcard. So a full price Adult Single to the same destination will be no more than £7.00.