Watch: The hidden gem eco park in Small Heath, Birmingham, where you can grow apples, learn woodwork & more

Hidden within the 18th most populous ward in city - Small Heath - lies a woodland oasis that is well-preserved and cared for by the Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust.

If you don’t know it exists, you are unlikely to find it because the entry to the Small Heath EcoPark lies within Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy on Hob Moor Road.

As you enter the park, the first thing you encounter is the EcoPark centre - which was opened a year ago. And it is this environmentally-friendly building which is enabling more people to come and experience the local wildlife.

Gareth Morgan, head of education and engagement at the trust, told BirminghamWorld: “We are a little bit hidden away here at the EcoPark, so not as many people know about us as we’d like.

“We have a mixture of different kinds of habitat here. We are a bit different from an ordinary nature reserve. We have created this space so people can encounter different kinds of wildlife in a small area.

“We have amazing oak trees which are hundreds of years old, silver birch trees, birdlife like woodpeckers, herons, jays, goldfinches, and more. We have an orchard - we try to demonstrate that food growing can co-exist with spaces for wildlife.”

The year-old centre helps the volunteers to deliver a variety of programmes for local people. And there’s much to learn at the EcoPark - such as woodworking, how to grow strawberries, and discovering all kinds of wildlife living in its ponds.

From woodlands to ponds to orchards - you will experience everything at the site, which has been with the trust for almost 30 years. While the flora was planted by humans over the years and the ponds are man-made as well, the area is allowed to grow wildly so pollinators, like honeybees, bumblebees, beetles and others can thrive.

Visitors that do know about the EcoPark include local schools which visit three days a week, there are also nature talks programmes with young children and their families and training courses.

Halfway between a park and a nature reserve, the EcoPark is a great place for communities to come together as well. It’s a haven for nature lovers and you can see native daffodils, bluebells, fig trees, tadpoles, primrose, forget me nots and so much more.

It’s a family-friendly space with a designated campfire site and people can visit as long as they make prior arrangements. There are open days as well for the local community to come and enjoy a day in the lap of nature.

If you are lucky, you might be able to join in when the apples growing in their orchard are juiced and shared with the public. The apple trees are flowering currently and look a lot like Cherry Blossoms. While the park is not meant for growing food for larger consumption, it’s a demonstration area to show people that nature can exist everywhere.

Community engagement

The EcoPark centre lets its Kingfisher Room out for hire for commercial purposes but it’s also available for community events.

So, if you want to find a place to start a book club, knitting club, or anything else - this trust’s Small Heath centre might be a good place to choose from. In the past, Sampad Arts have used it for dance performances as well.

With the help of their 20-30 volunteers, they have also made inroads into forming bonds with local communities. For instance, children connected to a local mosque Al-Hijrah Masjid have had the chance to explore and learn about nature at the park.

One of their volunteers, Toqueer Ahmed Quyyam, who received the Breaking Down Barriers Action prize at the Climate Coalition’s Green Heart Hero awards last year, lauded the trust for listening to what the community wants.