Hopwood Park services

Hopwood is a small settlement in Worcestershire, located south of Birmingham, England on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The settlement is developed around an inn, where users of the canal would have broken their journey. Today's Hopwood is the location of Hopwood Park services, a motorway service station on the M42 motorway. Places nearby include: Barnt Green, Alvechurch, Bittell Reservoir and Longbridge.

The Wast Hills Observatory was established in 1982 mainly as a teaching laboratory, as a part of the Physics with Astrophysics BSc/MSci degree course at the University of Birmingham. It is situated in Kings Norton, Birmingham, England, 8 km away from the campus of the University. It has developed into a unique training and research facility for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Wast Hill Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Its northern portal is in Hawkesley, Birmingham. Its southern portal is in fields just outside the city's boundaries, in Worcestershire.

Alvechurch Church of England Middle School (formerly 'Alvechurch Church of England Primary School') is a coeducational Church of England middle school located in the village of Alvechurch in Worcestershire, England. As of 2020 it had around 430 pupils from ages 9 to 13. Pupils from Alvechurch Middle School tend to feed into either South Bromsgrove High School or North Bromsgrove High School. Previously a voluntary controlled school administered by Worcestershire County Council, in April 2017 Alvechurch Church of England Middle School converted to academy status. The school is part of the same building as the Alvechurch Public Library.

A441 is an A-road in England which runs from central Birmingham to Cookhill, Worcestershire.

Forhill is a hamlet in the Bromsgrove district, in the English county of Worcestershire, England. The Roman Road Icknield Street passes through the hamlet. It is near Junction 2 of the M42 motorway.

The Bittell Reservoirs (grid reference SP017748) are located in Worcestershire between Barnt Green to the south and the Birmingham district of Longbridge to the north. They consist of the Upper (Upper Bittell) and Lower (Lower Bittell) reservoir. They were built to feed the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which was finished in the 1790s, however, the reservoir was not completed until 1837. The 'Upper' reservoir is to ensure that the level of the canal is kept sufficiently high, even in times of drought. The 'Lower' reservoir(s) are compensatory reservoirs to ensure that the local area does not become parched in dry times. The "Upper" reservoir can be seen as a form of insurance. A dried up, i.e. unusable, canal would have been disastrous for the owners of the canal as well as the artisans and tradesmen who relied upon it for a living. The irony of the reservoir is the length of time it took to build: only 6 years after it was finished the Birmingham & Gloucester railway was built alongside, mitigating the economic reasoning behind the large investment. The reservoirs are quite obscure nowadays, however they are used actively. Today one can fish in several places, especially on the lower reservoirs. The upper reservoir is used for sailing and windsurfing, and is the home of the Barnt Green Sailing Club. The reservoir is also used by 1st Kings Norton Sea Scout Troop who occupy a large boathouse on the south east shore. The Upper reservoir is also used for open water swimming in the summer months by the local triathlon club. One bank of the reservoir is inaccessible because it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). During the early 20th century, the bird life of the reservoirs was regularly recorded by the West Midland Bird Club, long before such site-monitoring became commonplace. They were also visited regularly by a young Bill Oddie. The Telegraph (Wednesday 15 November 2017 page 32) reported that during draining of Upper Bittell they found 500 critically endangered European eels. They were rehomed in the canal that the reservoir feeds.

West Heath is a residential area of Birmingham, England on the boundary with Worcestershire. Forming the larger part of the ward of Longbridge And West Heath it is situated between Kings Norton, Northfield, Longbridge and Cofton Hackett and lies on traditional heathland formed in the 13th century as part of the Kings Norton manorial lands, and was historically in Worcestershire. Based on a small village formed in the early 1900s that was originally centred on the medieval Lilley Lane, the majority of West Heath's expansion and growth took place just after World War II. The original expansion in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of large numbers of prefab houses, most of which were eventually replaced by permanent housing estates in the 1960s and 1970s. There are a number of buildings in West Heath that date to the 19th century and earlier. The suburb is adjacent to rural Worcestershire and a number of public footpaths allow open access to the surrounding fields up to Hopwood, Cofton Hackett and the Lickey Hills.

West Heath Hospital is a health facility on Rednal Road in West Heath, West Midlands, England. It is managed by Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Alvechurch ( ALV-church) is a large village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district in northeast Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow. The Lickey Hills Country Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) to the northwest. It is 11 miles (18 kilometres) south of Birmingham, 5 mi (8 km) north of Redditch and 6 mi (10 km) east of Bromsgrove. At the 2001 Census, the population was 5,316.

Alvechurch Football Club is a football club based in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England. They are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central and play at Lye Meadow.

Hawkesley is an area of Birmingham, England. It is part of 'The Three Estates', the housing estates Hawkesley, Pool Farm, and Primrose. These are to the south of (and effectively sub-areas of) Kings Norton. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is SP0477. Hawkesley was an important area of action during the English Civil War particularly around Hawkesley Farm which is situated further towards Longbridge site of the famous motor works. Wast Hills Tunnel, on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, passes beneath the area. The Three Estates New Deal for Communities in place since 2001 has encouraged urban regeneration. UK artists Gavin Wade and Alec Finlay working with poet Paul Conneally were commissioned to make public art in Hawkesley and as part of the work organised community Renga workshops across the Three Estates making a unique piece that forms part of Wade's huge Strategic Questions piece. The piece being co-funded by the Three Estates New Deal for Communities and Birmingham City Council.