If you would like to explore Bournville further, and see the wide variety of house styles, you can do a circular walking tour, which will take about 30 minutes. Please respect our residents’ privacy when looking at houses.

Start at SELLY MANOR and walk up Maple Road, alongside the wood. STOCK’S WOOD is believed to be one of the few remaining parts of the Great Forest of Arden. To ensure the woodland remains undisturbed, the public are not allowed access.

Turn right along Acacia Road, then right down WILLOW ROAD, and you will notice that no two sets of houses are exactly the same. This was a deliberate plan by the Trust’s architect, William Alexander Harvey, to keep the village looking unique. Slight differences in doors, canopies, windows and chimneys helped to achieve this.

Continue right down the hill along SYCAMORE ROAD. A short diversion across the road will take you to the World War One WAR MEMORIAL, built in 1923. Then, if you walk left up LABURNUM ROAD, after about 100m you will find HOLLY GROVE on your right.

These houses, dating from 1904 and also designed by William Harvey, were built to be seen by passengers on the nearby railway line. This was, in effect, free advertising for the quality and style of the houses being built in Bournville.

Re-trace your steps to SYCAMORE ROAD where you will see some of the more elaborate housing designs, including two STEP-GABLED HOUSES from 1902.

Numbers 17 to 21 are a block of three-storey FIREMAN’S HOUSES built for the firemen who worked for Cadburys so that they would be close to the factory if they were needed in an emergency.

You will now be back at SELLY MANOR.

Other buildings of interest are about a ten-minute walk away, up LINDEN ROAD. This route offers excellent views of the impressive CADBURY FACTORY buildings and the PAVILION designed by Bedford Tylor.

The OLD FARM HOTEL was originally Froggatt’s Farm, where workers from the factory could receive treatment for minor injuries, using herbal remedies prepared by the farmer’s wife. In 1900 it was converted into a temperance tavern serving non-alcoholic drinks.

Designed by Ewen Harper in 1897 for Richard Cadbury, the quadrangle of ALMSHOUSES was originally for retired Cadbury Workers over 60 years of age. (Please note, there is no public access).

One of the earliest parts of the estate to be developed, the block of SHOPS on MARY VALE ROAD, designed in 1898 by William Harvey, is now listed.