On our fun walks we will provide you with fascinating facts, jokes that pop up on your phone once you reach certain points, videos to make you laugh and little challenges to get those brain cells firing! We hope you enjoy and welcome your feedback.
Start the route at the entrance to the park by the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) (Map Point 1). Turn left and follow the tarmac pathway, with the lake on the right hand side of your path.
Just before a wooden bridge, you will see a small pathway off to your left to explore the model of the Elan Valley Reservoir (Map Point 2). Take a little detour here to see this model and click here to find out more about the Elan Valley Reservoir.
Did You Know – the Elan Valley Reservoir supplies Birmingham's fresh drinking water needs from 74 miles away entirely by gravity using an underground aqueduct built in the 1800s!
Back on the tarmac path, continue round towards the entrance gates on Edgbaston Road (Map Point 3). You will see that the park retains its Victorian horticultural character with many formal flower beds. Follow the path round to the right, passing the Garden Tea Room on your left.
If you've got location and push notifications turned on on your phone then you'll get a joke from us when you reach this point of the walk!
Did You Know - The park was designed and laid out by John Gibson, who trained under Joseph Paxton at Chatsworth. The park, given to the city by Louisa Ryland, daughter of local manufacturer Samuel Ryland, first opened to the public in 1873.
Just after the Garden Tea Room take the left hand (rough surface) pathway (Map Point 4) uphill towards Russell Road. Follow the tarmac pathway through the trees, with the Victorian bandstand down on your right near to the remains of the Golden Lion pub, a grade 2 listed building. The pub dates back to the1600s, but was relocated to the park in 1911 and is currently awaiting plans for the future.
From this higher pathway you will pass the Parks Maintenance yard on your left. Bear right on the pathway going downhill to join the main pathway with the main lake in front of you and stretching off to your right.
Down near the lake, bear left along the main pathway towards the wildflower meadow and Queen Mother’s Woodland. The woodland was planted with one oak for each year of her life, originally 80, but extended to 90 and then again to 100 trees, supplemented to mark the Millennium.
Why not stop for a moment on one of the benches here and learn more about the English Oak Tree over on the Woodlands Trust website; watch a video of an oak tree leaf budburst and/or read our current poem-of-the-week about an Oak Tree from English poet Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808-1872). Here's a little snippet of the poem...
"A song to the oak, the brave old oak, Who hath ruled in the greenwood long; Here ’s health and renown to his broad green crown, And his fifty arms so strong."
Follow the Rea Valley Walking & Cycling Route out of the main park with the river on your right hand side. Bear left at the boundary of the park, where you will see the path split left and right of a small green lawn triangle, and follow the tree-lined pathway uphill to the left of the triangle (Map Point 5) towards Holders Lane Gardens and Holders Lane sports pavilion.
If you've got location and push notifications turned on on your phone then you'll get another joke from us when you reach this point of the walk!
Leave the path bearing right and walk around the perimeter of the field. Cross the bridge over the River Rea to turn right and join the River Rea pathway going back towards the main park. Follow the pathway to cross back over the river again, turning left over the bridge to head back into the park. Keep on the main path, passing the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park on your left (Map Point 6).
Time to exercise those brain cells! Take a seat and take a few minutes to complete the easy Sudoku puzzle you will find at this link.
Once you've done that, learn a few words of French in our Walk Run Cycle learning group over at Memrise – can you rise up the leaderboard!?
Once you are done, bear left off the main tarmac path onto a natural pathway in front of the small lake, passing it on your right. Re-join the main tarmac pathway to continue ahead with the main lake on your right.
We're nearly at the end of the walk so take a seat here near the lake and make yourself laugh by watching a short British TV comedy classic clip from our friends over at British Comedy Classics on Facebook. We update the clips weekly for you to enjoy!
Make sure you are on wifi or have already downloaded the video so as not to incur excessive mobile data charges.
Once you are ready, follow the main pathway back to the MAC where this walk started.
Before you go, do this – find an old friend or relative in the contacts on your phone you haven't spoken to in ages, and phone them now and say hello (unless they live in Australia and will be fast asleep!). Go on, just give it a go.
And then take a look at our calendar of walks, runs and cycles to see if anyone is doing one near you that you can join in. Or contact us if you'd like to volunteer to host one in your area.