Walks you can reach from Small Heath by train

Ridge walk over North Worcestershire Hills, open hilltops, scrubland, gorse, woods, pastures, motorway bridge crossing, country parks and heathland with bilberry and heather.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Steep descents.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Reverse direction: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

Droitwich Canal constructed in 1771 to transport salt to River Severn; fully restored and reopened in 2011.

Waterway: three quarters along the Droitwich Barge Canal.

Time: 3h30–7h30

Warnings: Riverside path may be fenced off during repair works.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Reverse direction: Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (PDF, inc. GPX) and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Parkland and field paths past lakes and fishing ponds.

Time: 3h–6h

End-of-walk reward: A pub and brewery at Hartlebury near the end.

Walk details: Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (PDF).

Hilly north Worcestershire landscape. River Blythe rises near Earlswood Lakes.

Time: 2h30–5h

Warnings: Cars travel fast on twisty road with no pavement; busy A435 dual carriageway crossing.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Beautiful line through the northern Cotswolds. Trackbed of old railway line, fields, roads through villages and flat greenway. Route follows the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway from 1859, closed for passenger services in 1968-1969, finally closed in 1976. Now a greenway.

Time: 4h–7h30

Warnings: First section still in use for goods traffic; moderately busy road between Pebworth and Long Marston.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Mostly along canal towpaths with field paths and road sections. Walk through mid-Worcestershire from Bromsgrove to Droitwich Spa, tracing salt industry heritage and Victorian spa development via canal routes. Droitwich is a town literally constructed on salt.

Waterway: four fifths along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Time: 3h–6h30

Warnings: Be careful of fast-moving cars on lane; towpath muddy in places.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Reverse direction: Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (PDF, inc. GPX) and Railwalks (inc. GPX).

Town centre, parks, ornamental gardens, lake, River Blythe, woodland and open fields.

Time: 3h

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

Quintessential English country house. Countryside; partly along the Grand Union Canal towpath. Packwood House is a 16th-century half-timbered manor house extensively reimagined in 1920s by Baron Ash; gifted to National Trust in 1941.

Time: 2h–4h

Warnings: Fairly busy road; muddy field conditions.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Warwickshire countryside paths, village lanes and river crossing.

Time: 1h

Warnings: Request stop; no shops in Wood End or Tanworth, stock up before arriving.

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

Farmland, woodland and rural lanes.

Time: 1h30

Warnings: Request stop; no facilities on trail, bring provisions.

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

Historic high street, farmland, Millennium Way, rural lanes, fields and woodland edges.

Time: 2h30

Warnings: Can be overgrown summer.

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

Town-centre pavements and riverside paths.

Time: 1h30

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).