This is a cracking and varied three mile stroll that starts and finishes in Solihull’s most popular park, but it is one for when the ground is drier, when British Summer Time rules the clocks. From late April to mid May it is enhanced, as the route enters the riverside woods, by a carpet of vibrant bluebells at their best.

The route starts from the car park of Brueton Park by joining the lakeside path (on the same side as the car park) and enjoying the views across the water. At the end of the lake there is a path to the right shortly before the footbridge. This leads to the entrance of the Nature Reserve.

Turn left to enter the reserve and then turn immediately right and follow the perimeter path along two edges of the wetland, noting the bullrushes in the ponds.

Pass through the gateway into the next field of the Reserve, but, this time, follow the left hand edge.

This leads eventually to some woodland with the feel of a ‘fairy glen’ as the path turns right twice before, near the woodland exit, there is a path on the left, across a field, which leads out onto Widney Manor Road.

A short distance to the left along the road, just before the first house, a path leads to the left again, down the hill, straight across Lovelace Avenue, and down to a footbridge over the Blythe.

Between this bridge and a further one over the motorway is a small copse, from which a further path leads up the middle of the long field to the left between the river and the M42.

This path then passes alongside one stretch of woodland before entering a further wood at the end of the field. It is here, amongst the trees to the side of the next stretch of footpath, that the bluebells willawait you and your camera.

From here the path continues, through a narrow section alongside a field and then through more riverbank woodland, to return you the Brueton Park lake, but on its opposite bank.

This final section, after passing the bluebells, has the constant accompaniment of babbling water and is a delight when the going is firm. However, be wary that it is here that the path is regularly unpassable in the wet winter months and can be very muddy and slippery after unseasonal summer rains.