Waseley Hills Country Park is 150 acre (0.607029 km²) a Country Park

Country park

A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.-History:In the United Kingdom the term 'Country Park' has a special meaning. There are over 400 Country Parks in England alone . Most Country Parks were designated in the 1970s, under the...

, owned and managed by Worcestershire County Council's Countryside Service. It consists of rolling open hills with old hedgerows, pastures and small pockets of woodland with panoramic views over Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

It is just south-west of Birmingham, close to Junction 4

Lydiate Ash

Lydiate Ash is a hamlet, consisting of a few houses and the road gritting depot for Bromsgrove District Council.area of North Worcestershire, England. It is in the district of Bromsgrove, to the south-west of Birmingham....

 of the M5 Motorway

M5 motorway

The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...

, from which it is signposted. The North Worcestershire Path

North Worcestershire Path

The North Worcestershire Path is a waymarked long-distance trail located within the historic Worcestershire in England. It runs from Bewdley to Major's Green, Birmingham-The route:...

 and Illey Way long distance paths run through the park. The park contains the source of the River Rea

River Rea

The River Rea is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. The name of the river derives from a root found in many Indo-European languages and means "to run" or "to flow". It frequently bursts its banks after heavy rain....

. The hills form part of the watershed between the Rea valley and that of the river Salwarpe

River Salwarpe

The River Salwarpe is a river in Worcestershire, England. Rising near Bromsgrove, it passes Stoke Prior, Upton Warren, Wychbold, Droitwich . After Droitwich, it meets the River Severn, at Hawford, . Andrew Yarranton attempted unsuccessfully to make it navigable in the 1660s....

, and thus between the catchment

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

s of the rivers Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

 and Severn

River Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...

.

Facilities

The park has an information centre, a meeting room and café, all located in a timber-framed threshing

Threshing

Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain...

 barn, which originally stood at Lower Smite Farm in Hindlip. Other facilities include a play area and an orienteering

Orienteering

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...

 course.

The name

The name may be derived from "Waer" (sheep) and "ley" (field), but the first element could be "weardsetl" (watchplace). If it is the latter, it was one of a chain of four such watchplaces along the northern houndary of the Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

 kingdom of the Hwicce

Hwicce

The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...

, along with Wast Hills in Alvechurch

Alvechurch

Alvechurch is a large village and civil parish of Bromsgrove district, in the northeast of the county of Worcestershire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Arrow, the nearest city is Birmingham, 17 km / 11 miles to the north, with the closest towns being Redditch, 8 km / 5 miles...

, Wassell Grove to the east of Wychbury Hill

Wychbury Hill

Wychbury Hill is a hill situated off the A456 Birmingham Road, at Hagley, Stourbridge, on the border of West Midlands and Worcestershire.It is divided between the parish of Hagley and former parish of Pedmore. It is one of the Clent Hills. The hill offers good views across the Severn Valley as...

 in Hagley

Hagley

Hagley is a village and civil parish on the northern boundary of Worcestershire, England, near to the towns of Kidderminster and Stourbridge. The parish had a population of 4,283 in 2001, but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish...

, and Wassell Wood at the southern end of Shatterford Hill

Shatterford Hill

Shatterford Hill is an English geographical feature that extends from Bewdley in north Worcestershire to Birdsgreen near Alveley, just over the border in Shropshire...

 at Trimpley

Trimpley

Trimpley is a hamlet in the parish of Kidderminster Foreign. It lies on the ridge of Shatterford Hill, north of Wribbenhall and east of Habberley. At the village lies along Trimpley Green, a small common...

.

Views

External links

Official website

Visitor Guide