Things to do in Bromsgrove: free hills, £15 open-air museum

Bromsgrove’s best days out are cheap, and several of them are free. The district runs from the Lickey and Clent Hills on the Birmingham edge down to the canal at Tardebigge, and the two things it is genuinely known for, an open-air museum of rescued buildings and the longest flight of locks in Britain, are both a short drive from the town centre.

Every price and opening time below was checked against the venue’s own website in August 2026. Where something is shut, we have said so.

Avoncroft Museum: 30 rescued buildings, and children go free this summer

Avoncroft at Stoke Heath, B60 4JR, calls itself England’s first open-air museum. More than 30 historic buildings and structures have been dismantled elsewhere, moved here and rebuilt on the site, among them a windmill and a set of working forges. It also holds the National Collection of Telephone Kiosks, which is exactly what it sounds like and is much better than that makes it sound, plus a vintage fairground and a miniature railway.

• Adult £15, student £12, child (5 to 17) £7, under-5s free.
• Small family (1 adult, up to 3 children) £24. Large family (2 adults, up to 3 children) £39.
• Essential carers free, with proof of carer status.
• Until 31 August 2026, children go free: every full-price adult ticket includes two child tickets.
• The miniature railway, run by the Bromsgrove Society of Model Engineers, is £1 a ride.
• Annual membership: individual £41, small family £65, large family £95.

Opening hours are 10am to 4pm. Through 1 July to 31 August it opens Wednesday to Sunday plus bank holiday Monday. From 2 September to 21 October it drops back to Wednesdays and weekends. Booking online is cheaper than paying at the gate.

Norton Collection Museum: £5, and the story of the Bromsgrove Guild

The town’s own museum sits at 26 Birmingham Road, B61 0DD, a few minutes’ walk from the High Street. It is open Friday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and costs £5 for adults with accompanied children under 16 free.

Its subject is the town, and in particular the Bromsgrove Guild, founded in 1898 by the sculptor Walter Gilbert and staffed by craftsmen he recruited from across Europe to work in bronze, stone, plaster and glass. Its two best-known commissions are the gates of Buckingham Palace and the Liver Birds in Liverpool. The Guild declined through the 1930s depression and wound up in the 1960s, and the museum’s trustees plan to devote extra space at the rear of the building to its work. Since a 2022 refit the front entrance is wheelchair accessible and there is a lift to the first floor, where most of the collection is.

The nearest parking is Stourbridge Road car park, which the museum notes costs £2 for two hours.

The hills: three country parks, three different parking charges

This is the part of the district people travel to. They are all open all year and all free to walk in; what varies is what you pay to leave the car.

Lickey Hills Country Park covers 524 acres on the district’s boundary with Birmingham. The visitor centre at the end of Warren Lane, B45 8ER, opens daily from 10am, closing at 4.20pm in winter and 5.50pm in summer, and the Grounds Café inside it shuts half an hour earlier. Car park gates open at 7.30am and are locked at dusk. Note that the park has an outbreak of Phytophthora ramorum, so stick to marked paths and clean boots, bike tyres and dog paws afterwards.

Parking there is free, and the council’s own page still said so when it was last updated on 20 April 2026. It is not likely to stay that way. Birmingham City Council agreed the principle of charging as part of its 2024/25 budget, and after consultation it took forward £1.00 an hour for up to four hours, £5.00 all day, a £52 annual permit and chargeable hours of 9am to 6pm every day, with a 30-minute free grace period. Of the people who responded to the informal consultation, 78.4 per cent wanted parking to stay free.

Waseley Hills Country Park is at Gannow Green Lane, Rubery, B45 9AT, signed from junction 4 of the M5. It has an adventure play area, way-marked trails (the half-mile Skylark Trail and the three-mile Rabbit Trail) and the Windmill Café in an ancient barn, open 10am to 4pm every day except Christmas Day. Parking is card-only: £3 all day, £50 for an annual pass, free for Blue Badge holders. The north car park opens 8am to 8pm from May to September.

Clent Hills is National Trust land in the Hagley corner of the district. Access to the hills is free at any time; the charge is only for the Nimmings Wood car park, £4.80 for the day, free to National Trust members, open 9am to 5pm. If you would rather not pay, there is free parking at Walton Hill and Adams Hill. Nimmings Wood has an independent café, accessible toilets and cycle parking.

Sanders Park: free, Green Flag, and one thing to know before you go

Sanders Park on Kidderminster Road, B61 7JP, is the town’s own park, 16.3 hectares along the Battlefield Brook, formally opened in 1968 and taking around 350,000 visitors a year. In July 2026 it won Green Flag status, along with Lickey End Recreation Ground.

It has a bowling green and tennis courts, an outdoor skate park, two multi-use games areas, a children’s play area, a sensory garden and the Jubilee Bandstand, where there is an open-air concert every Sunday through the summer. Three of the Royal Hunters’ Walks start here. Much of it is tarmac and suitable for wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

Two current caveats:

• The park café is closed for a major refurbishment. The toilets are open as usual, 8am to 5pm, and the council has brought in the King Whippy ice cream van daily, weather permitting, 10am to 5 or 6pm.
• The car park is being extended from Monday 17 August 2026, for six to eight weeks. Expect construction traffic and a temporary one-way system. The park stays open. Details on our roadworks and travel page.

Tardebigge Locks: 30 locks, 220 feet, and the best free walk in the district

The Tardebigge flight is the longest flight of locks in Britain: 30 locks carrying the Worcester and Birmingham Canal 220 feet uphill over two and a quarter miles. The canal opened in 1815 and was dug by hand, originally to move porcelain and, later, Cadbury’s chocolate.

Boaters take four hours or more to work through it, with no overnight mooring allowed anywhere on the flight, which is why walkers get the better end of the deal. The Canal & River Trust’s Tardebigge to Stoke Prior walk is three and a half miles, starting at Tardebigge Wharf (grid reference SO996693), where the 1912 tug Birmingham is on display. At Top Lock there is a plaque marking the 1946 meeting aboard the narrowboat Cressy that led to the founding of the Inland Waterways Association.

Top Lock, which is Grade II listed and unusually deep because it stands on the site of an experimental vertical boat lift, was closed in February 2025 after one of its 210-year-old walls bowed and was judged at risk of collapse. The Trust drained the lock, dismantled the damaged section brick by brick to salvage the originals for reuse, and said it expected to spend over £500,000 on the repair. Check the Canal & River Trust’s notices for the flight’s current status before you set out, particularly if you are boating.

In the town

Bromsgrove Market runs on the High Street every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

The Artrix on Slideslow Drive, B60 1GN, is open again. The arts centre closed during the pandemic and reopened in April 2024, and is now run by volunteers with a programme of comedy, music, theatre, family shows, workshops, spoken word and cinema in its main auditorium and studio. Listings are on the Artrix website.

The Housman Trail follows the poet and classical scholar A. E. Housman’s Bromsgrove childhood around the places that inspired him, in a guide the council produced with the Housman Society, with both driving and walking routes. The large bronze statue of him stands on the High Street.

Bromsgrove Sporting play at the Victoria Ground. Matchday tickets are £13 for an adult booked online or £14 at the gate, £10 or £11 for over-65s and disabled supporters, £7 or £8 for 13 to 17s and £3 or £4 for 5 to 12s, who must be with an adult. A full adult season ticket is £260, a flexi season £110.

Bromsgrove Sport and Leisure Centre is run by Everyone Active and has two swimming pools, a gym of more than 100 stations, group fitness studios, a Clip ‘n Climb wall and a spa.

Frequently asked questions

What is there to do in Bromsgrove for free?

Lickey Hills Country Park (524 acres, free to park), Sanders Park in the town, the Tardebigge towpath and canal walks, the Clent Hills if you park at Walton Hill or Adams Hill, and the Housman Trail. Children under 16 also get in free at the Norton Collection Museum with an adult.

How much is Avoncroft Museum?

£15 for an adult, £7 for a child aged 5 to 17, £12 for a student, and under-5s free. Families are £24 for one adult and up to three children, £39 for two adults and up to three children. Until 31 August 2026 each adult ticket includes two free child tickets.

Is parking free at the Lickey Hills?

Yes at the moment. Birmingham City Council’s park page said parking was free when it was last updated on 20 April 2026. Charges of £1 an hour up to four hours and £5 all day, with a £52 annual permit, have been agreed in principle and taken to formal consultation.

What is there to do in Bromsgrove when it rains?

The Norton Collection Museum (Friday to Sunday, £5), the Artrix for a film or a show, and Bromsgrove Sport and Leisure Centre for the pools, the gym and the Clip ‘n Climb wall. Avoncroft is an outdoor museum, though many of its buildings are enterable and it says it has plenty of shade and cool interiors.

Where are the Clent Hills and are they in Bromsgrove?

Yes. Clent and Hagley are parishes of Bromsgrove district, and the National Trust’s Nimmings Wood car park sits in the Hagley East ward. Entry to the hills is free; the car park is £4.80 a day or free to National Trust members.

Which day is Bromsgrove market?

Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, on the High Street.

Related

• Bromsgrove roadworks and travel: car park charges, and the Sanders Park works.
• Bromsgrove train times: 23 minutes to Birmingham if you would rather not drive.
• Bromsgrove house prices.
• Bromsgrove planning news.

Sources

• Avoncroft Museum admission tickets, summer kids go free ticket and opening times for prices, the children-go-free offer and the 2026 opening calendar.
• Norton Collection Museum, visit us for opening days, admission and access, and The Bromsgrove Guild for the Guild’s history and commissions.
• Birmingham City Council, Lickey Hills Country Park and its visiting the park page for the acreage, visitor centre hours and free parking.
• Birmingham City Council consultation on proposed parking charges at Lickey Hills for the proposed charges and the consultation result.
• Worcestershire County Council, Waseley Hills Country Park for parking charges, café hours and car park times.
• National Trust, Clent Hills for the Nimmings Wood charge and the free alternatives.
• Bromsgrove District Council, Sanders Park information for the park’s size, facilities, café closure and car park, and Green for success at Bromsgrove parks for the 2026 Green Flag awards.
• Canal & River Trust, Tardebigge to Stoke Prior walk and emergency repairs for our longest canal lock flight for the flight’s dimensions, the walk and the Top Lock repair.
• Bromsgrove Sporting, ticket information for matchday and season ticket prices.
• Bromsgrove District Council, Bromsgrove centres and market for market days and The Housman Trail for the trail and statue.
• Everyone Active, Bromsgrove Sport and Leisure Centre for the centre’s facilities.

Prices and opening times change, and small venues change them at short notice. Check with the venue before you travel.