Balsall Common

Abbey Fields

Abbey Fields · 4.3 miles

A sizeable green space occupies the centre of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, offering both historic remnants and modern leisure facilities. The area was originally farmland attached to St Mary’s Abbey before the abbey’s dissolution in the mid-sixteenth century; today the ruins of a sandstone gatehouse and stonework from the former abbey’s doors and windows can be seen incorporated into the doorway of St Nicholas Church, a building whose origins date from the mid-sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. Within the park’s boundaries the natural lake and Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, provide water-side scenery alongside the town’s war memorial and a museum housed in an old barn that records the abbey’s history. Management of the site rests with Warwick District Council, which also operates a leisure-centre complex featuring indoor and outdoor swimming pools, five tennis courts and a large children’s play area. Visitors can obtain refreshments at the on-site café, and the volunteer group Friends of Abbey Fields assists with upkeep. The park regularly accommodates community events such as the Lions Club show, the town carnival, bonfire night activities and a Boxing Day charity duck race, and it serves as an orienteering venue for the Midlands club Octavian Droobers. Access is straightforward from the surrounding town, with no admission charge mentioned for the park or its main attractions.

Allesley Park

Allesley Park · 4.3 miles

A former medieval deer park now provides a public green space in the north-west of Coventry, roughly 2.5 miles (4 km) from the city centre and positioned just east of the A45 bypass. The park lies adjacent to the residential suburb that shares its name, bounded by Chapelfields to the east, Mount Nod to the west and Whoberley to the south. Its open fields and mature trees are set within the urban landscape of the West Midlands, offering a relatively quiet area for walking or casual recreation. The site originated as a deer park laid out by Henry de Hastings in the 13th century and was once five times larger than the present area. Later it functioned as a gentleman’s farm of more than 400 acres under church ownership. In the 1960s the land was acquired by Coventry City Council and retained as a public park. Within the park’s grounds stands Allesley Hall, a mansion erected in 1909 for the Iliffe family after the previous house was demolished in 1908. The building, which served as a sanatorium in the 1950s, is now operated as a retirement home. The park is classified as a public park on OpenStreetMap and is therefore accessible to visitors. Management rests with Coventry City Council, which maintains the grounds. No specific admission requirements or facilities are detailed in the available sources, but the park’s location near the A45 and its proximity to the surrounding districts make it reachable by local road networks.

Hearsall Common

Chapelfields · 4.3 miles

A public green space set in the Earlsdon district of Coventry, close to the Chapelfields area, offers a mix of open grass, a small tarmac-gravel section and a wooded nature reserve. Entry is free and the site is legally open to the public at any hour, although an embankment has been erected alongside the adjacent road to stop vehicles from entering after complaints about itinerant travellers. Visitors can reach the common via Hearsall Common Road, where the landscape is bounded by the grassy field on one side and the woodland on the other. The area has been recorded as common land since at least the thirteenth century, with a detailed survey of the surrounding waste ground dating back to 1423. Historically it served as grazing ground for the city’s freemen, a right that persisted into the nineteenth century. The Coventry Corporation Act of 1927 transferred Hearsall Common, together with several other local commons, to the status of a recreation ground and terminated the remaining commoning rights, compensating the freemen with an annual sum. By the mid-1950s, twenty-one acres of the site had been laid out as sports pitches, and the common has long hosted fairs, including the historic ‘crock fair’. Today the eastern expanse of the common is a popular venue for dog walkers, kite flyers, sunbathers and informal football games, while the northern edge near the woods holds a cycle-speedway track used by the Coventry Cycle Speedway Club. The site regularly accommodates travelling circuses – the Moscow State Circus performed there in November 2004 – and has acted as a temporary base for the Earlsdon Festival during the May Day bank-holiday weekend. In 2007 the Donkey Derby was also staged on the common after heavy summer rain elsewhere. A plaque on the ground commemorates the 1916 aircraft landing that, according to local legend, sparked Frank Whittle’s interest in aeronautics.

War Memorial Park

Styvechale Grange · 5.6 miles

Spanning roughly 48.5 hectares on the southern edge of Coventry, the park offers a substantial green space that also serves as a memorial to the 2,587 local men who lost their lives in the First World War. Opened in July 1921 after the council bought the former Styvechale common from the Gregory-Hood family, the site was later shaped by landscaped gardens and sporting fields added in the late-1920s and 1930s. A prominent 90-foot Portland-stone monument, erected in 1927 and dedicated by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, houses the Chamber of Silence where the Roll of the Fallen is displayed each Remembrance Sunday. Wartime remnants such as concrete blocks from the Second World War’s anti-aircraft installations remain near the Coat of Arms bridge. The park received a Grade II listing in 2013, the memorial itself holds a Grade II* status, and it has retained Green Flag accreditation since 2013. In July 2014, Prince William formally launched the Centenary Fields programme here. Visitors can make use of football pitches, bowling greens, a modest golf course, tennis courts, a splash-play area, a small aviary and a skateboard zone, while extensive open lawns and tree-lined pathways provide space for casual walks. A perimeter path encircles the whole area, and the venue regularly hosts events such as the Godiva Festival, Donkey Derby, Caribbean Festival, Vaisakhi Mela and weekly parkruns that attract several hundred participants. The site also accommodated Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May 2022. Access is via a large tarmacked car park off Kenilworth Road, served by a park-and-ride service to the city centre, with additional smaller car parks on Coat of Arms Bridge Road and near the northern end of Leamington Road. Admission to the park and its facilities is unrestricted.

Spencer Park

Earlsdon · 5.6 miles

Scenic tree-lined park with an expansive field, children's play areas & cycling paths.

Tudor Grange Park

Blossomfield · 6.2 miles

The park lies on the edge of Solihull in the West Midlands, within easy walking distance of the town centre and directly beside the local railway station and Tudor Grange Leisure Centre. Council documentation describes it as an informal recreation space cut through by the Alder Brook, a stream that feeds a small lake attracting geese, mute swans, ducks, moorhens and coots. The venue also hosts larger community gatherings such as the Solihull Carnival. Acquired by the council in 1946, the site was previously farmland owned by the Bird family, known for the Bird’s Custard brand, whose former residence now forms part of Solihull College. Modern amenities include a children’s play area, a skate park installed in 2003, a pitch-and-putt course at the south-west end, and a cycle track that forms a 1 km figure-of-eight circuit. The track, built with a grant from Sport England and designed alongside British Cycling and local clubs, serves both training purposes and casual riding. Additional facilities introduced during the 2008 redevelopment comprise outdoor gym equipment such as a rowing machine and wall bars, new footpaths, improved lighting, CCTV coverage, and refreshed bridges over the stream. Visitors can reach the park on foot from the town centre or by train, alighting at the adjacent station. The surrounding landscape features semi-mature native trees—including oak, birch, alder and black poplar—planted as part of the recent landscaping scheme. Pathways and hard-standing areas provide clear routes throughout, making the park accessible for a range of activities from walking and wildlife watching to cycling and organised events.