Sandwell Valley Country Park - Sandwell Park Farm by ell brown

After making my way through Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich, I then headed into the Sandwell Valley Country Park, looking for the Big Sleuth bear. It was near the Sandwell Park Visitor Centre (also the entrance to Sandwell Park Farm). There is a fun fair in the park. Once I found the bears (including the small ones inside the visitor centre), I headed back towards Dartmouth Park and then to West Bromwich Town Centre. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwell_Valley_Country_Park" rel="nofollow">Sandwell Valley Country Park</a> Sandwell Valley Country Park (grid reference SP024925) is a country park, run by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, in Sandwell Valley, on the River Tame in the middle of the urban conurbation between Birmingham and West Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. Sandwell Valley country park stretches from the A41 at West Bromwich to the edge of Walsall, with car parks in Forge Lane and Sandwell Park Farm. The main entrances to the site are at Sandwell Park Farm, Salter's Lane, West Bromwich, B71 4BG. Forge Mill Farm, Forge Lane, West Bromwich B71 3SZ Sandwell Valley Country Park was once the site of Sandwell Priory, a 12th-century Benedictine monastery which itself was founded on the site of an earlier hermitage. The monastery was closed on the orders of Cardinal Wolsey in 1525 and by 1705 the land was redeveloped once more, into Sandwell Hall, built for the Earl of Dartmouth. From the late 19th century the Hall was used as an asylum, and then in 1907, a home for boys, calling itself &quot;Sandwell Hall Industrial School for Mentally Defective Boys&quot;.In 1928 Sandwell Hall was demolished due to subsidence caused by mining from Sandwell Park (Jubilee) Colliery which employed over 600 miners. A coal tramway ran from the Jubilee pit through the Sandwell Park to the canal at Smethwick. By the 1960s the site was developed into the Country Park with up to 660 acres (270 ha) set aside for amenities such as a pitch &amp; putt golf course, a Millennium Cycle Route, a Mountain Bike Trail, tennis courts and open spaces close to the heart of a major UK city. The country park receives over 500,000 visit per year. Swan Pool (also known as Wasson or Warstone) is used for sailing. The RSPB site here attracts over 150 different species of birds. The Sandwell Park Farm aka Sandwell Park Visitor Centre. Grade II listed. <a href="http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101077100-farm-buildings-at-sandwell-park-farm-enclosing-farmyard-and-cart-shed-and-building-attached-to-south-west-side-off-lodge-hill-road-west-bromwich-central-ward#.WYDmo-mQyUk" rel="nofollow">Farm Buildings at Sandwell Park Farm, Enclosing Farmyard, and Cart Shed and Building Attached to South West Side, off Lodge Hill Road</a> Listing Text SANDWELL MB WEST BROMWICH, SANDWELL VALLEY SP 09 SW 5/166 Farm buildings at Sandwell Park Farm, enclosing farm- 9.1.81 yard, and cart shed and building attached to south- west side, off Lodge Hill Road II Farm buildings, now visitors' centre. Probably c1800. Brick with tile roofs. Arranged around a square farmyard, with buildings on three sides and wall enclosing south side. Two storeys, with three-storey corner pavilions under pyramid roofs. North-east tower contains dovecote. On east side of courtyard the buildings have doors and windows with segmental heads. On the west side is an open shed with a seven-bay arcade of elliptical arches. On the north side is a barn. This has two cart entrances with elliptical arches, with a third similar arch to the east containing smaller doorways. Adjoining to the west is a single-storey cartshed, now an exhibition wing, with six-bay arcade now glazed. Adjoining it further west is a two-storey building with two arched cart entrances. These planned farm buildings were built as the home farm on the Earl of Dartmouth's Sandwell Hall estate. Sandwell Hall was demolished in 1928. Listing NGR: SP0195391500 This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building. <a href="http://thebigsleuth.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">The Big Sleuth</a> The trail officially started on Monday 10th July 2017 and runs for approximately 10 weeks before being sold off in an auction for charity. Uncle B Artist: Louise Blakeley and Warren McCabe-Smith working with Cradley Heath Creative Funded by: Cradley Heath and Sandwell Council