Baggeridge Park - a wild and hilly place

Although it's so close, I have never been to Baggeridge Park before (apart from for the Schools' Cross Country, when I have been so cold and muddy I didn't look around me at all!)
These primroses were right by the car park.

As is the bandstand

The park is just into Staffordshire (rather than in Dudley, as I had thought), and the Staffordshire Knot is there on the bandstand.

A flowering currant in the wild. Spring is well and truly on the way.

The chimney from Baggeridge Brickworks, which are on the edge of the park.

The miniature railway.

The chimney is on the skyline: it can certainly be seen from Kinver Edge, and I suspect a great deal further away too.

There are plenty of walks: I only had time for one major one. The sign has the magic word "toposcope". I can never resist them!

The path up to it is quite steep.

View from half way up. All of this area was originally a large opencast coal mine, mining the thickest coal seam in the country (it was 10 metres thick)

From the summit, you can see the modern development which will be called Baggeridge Village

Here's the Toposcope

The views are fantastic. That's the Wrekin, Shropshire, on the skyline

Worcestershire's Clent Hills this way

Over to Sedgley church, in Dudley.

Titterstone Clee (left) and Brown Clee (right). Behind them should be the Black Mountains in Wales, but it wasn't clear enough to see them.

More tomorrow from this fascinating park. What great use of an old mining site. I have to say, I didn't realise that was what it was till I read about it afterwards.

Today's walk: I walked map-free, just following the tracks on the ground.