The ‘underrated’ UK city that’s one of the greenest in Europe – can YOU guess it?

By ESTHER MARSHALL

Published: 10:43 BST, 1 May 2025 | Updated: 10:47 BST, 1 May 2025

An underrated city that’s best known as the heart of the Industrial Revolution is actually one of the greenest cities in Europe. 

Birmingham has more than 600 parks and green spaces and open space equivalent to 14 square miles/36km2. 

The city also has five local nature reserves and has even been awarded Tree City of the World status four times. 

So, where are Birmingham’s best green spaces? 

Sutton Park is one of Europe’s largest urban parks and spans a whopping 2,400 acres in Sutton Coldfield. 

The expansive park has seven lakes, woodland, marshes and heathland while visitors might also see cattle and ponies grazing on the land. 

One visitor said in a Tripadvisor review that the park’s expansive meadows make you feel like you’re in England ‘500 years ago’. 

Cannon Hill Park is one of Birmingham’s most popular green spaces and stretches across 250 acres with woodland, conservation and sports areas. 

Sutton Park is one of Europe’s largest urban parks and spans a whopping 2,400 acres in Sutton Coldfield

The expansive park has seven lakes, woodland, marshes and heathland while visitors might also see cattle and ponies grazing on the land

Tourists can even take a swan-shaped pedalo out on the park’s Boating Lake to admire the surroundings from the water. 

And if you’re looking for a historic day out, look no further than Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens. 

Located on the outskirts of the city, the Grade II listed walled garden takes you back to the 18th century. 

Visit Birmingham says: ‘With formal walks, orchards, vegetable garden as well as mud kitchens and wildlife areas, it’s a great place for all the family to hang out in.’ 

Birmingham also has an impressive Botanical Garden which offers a ‘unique biodiverse natural environment’. 

The Gardens, which sit across 15 acres, are home to over 10,000 plants as well as a Japanese Garden with a National Bonsai Collection. 

Visit Birmingham adds: ‘It is one of the UK’s most significant historic Botanic Gardens which has remarkably remained intact since 1829.’ 

And the UK is also boosting its green credentials in other areas of the country. 

Birmingham also has an impressive Botanical Garden which offers a ‘unique biodiverse natural environment’

Cannon Hill Park is one of Birmingham’s most popular green spaces and stretches across 250 acres with woodland, conservation and sports areas

The Western Forest will stretch from the Cotswolds to the Mendips and will see 20 million trees planted, across 2,500 hectares of new woodland.

Work will be led by the Forest of Avon and supported with a five-year investment of £7.5 million from the Government.  

Project leaders are aiming to bring ‘trees and woodland’ much ‘closer to where people live’ with the Western Forest set to serve communities in Bristol, Gloucester and Swindon.

The Western Forest is also designed to ‘help the drive to net zero while promoting economic growth’, the Government has said.

It is the first of three planned national woodlands which the Government committed to creating in its manifesto.

The last forest to be planted in the UK was created in the Midlands, across Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, in the 1990s.

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The ‘underrated’ UK city that’s one of the greenest in Europe – can YOU guess it?

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