Kings Heath Floral Trail
| Published: 22nd July 2007 23:45 |
Walking round the King's Heath Floral Trail will help you achieve the 10,000 steps health experts recommend you take every day.
It will also enable you to explore:-
- the biggest and best shopping centre in South Birmingham with many high quality shops and cafes on York and Poplar Roads complementing major national stores and supermarkets on the High Street
- the magnificent trees and landscape of historic Highbury Park that helped inspire Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings and
- the award winning King's Heath Park that contains the former BBC Gardeners World TV Gardens and hosts the prestigious annual Gardeners Weekend.
Hanging Baskets and floral displays will brighten up the High Street and Vicarage Road from June to October and will form part of King's Heath's entry into this year's Britain in Bloom.
But this year's trail is only a beginning because we aim to make it even bigger and better in future years.
Historic Highbury Park
Historic Highbury Park has been described as "perhaps one of the lost jewels in Birmingham's Crown",
Walking through the park as part of the circular Floral Trail route will help you discover a haven of tranquility, fresh air and green space in which it is possible to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.
The park was originally created out of the merger of the adjoining estates of the Chamberlain family who owned Highbury Hall and the Cadbury family who owned Uffculme.
The grounds were lovingly landscaped at the turn of the 20th Century with extensive tree planting and the creation of the Dutch gardens planted with many bulbs and the Italian gardens using terracotta brick work. The Council's Parks Service and the very active Friends of Highbury Park are hoping to secure Heritage Lottery Funding to restore these areas to their former glory.
Highbury Park has the largest variety of trees of any Birmingham Park and a comprehensive tree survey is being undertaken this year. The magnificent trees and fantastic landscapes provided some of the inspiration for Tolkien' s Lord of the Rings as he lived for part of his life in nearby Westfield Road.
The park is rich in wildlife and birdlife with kingfishers and jays being spotted and the ponds supporting Canada geese, mallard and moorhen.
King's Heath Park
King's Heath Park, often called the gardeners' park, is home to the Horticultural Training School and former TV demonstration gardens. The Park House and Victorian Tea Rooms are surrounded by colourful seasonal bedding schemes, herbaceous borders, alpine outcrops, heather beds, trees and shrubs.
King's Heath Park has been awarded the Green Flag A ward recognising it as a site of excellence. The park celebrates it's centenary in 2008.
