Northcote
Located in a convenient area with good links to the Midlands motorway network, Northcote provides a great suburban base. Northcote is a delightful new neighbourhood with local shopping facilities a short walk away and Birmingham city centre just a five mile commute.
Outdoor activities
Northcote is adjacent to Brookvale Park, a large recreational space with a boating and fishing lake. Once a reservoir, it has now been refurbished to create a delightful leisure amenity and a popular local focal point. The park includes tennis courts, a bowling green, a high-quality play area for children and a sailing club. A path from the far end of the park leads along a short walk to Witton Lakes, a nature conservation area and a popular venue for model boating. Sutton Park, around three miles to the north, is a National Nature Reserve offering 2,400 acres of wilderness and mixed terrain with many sites of archaeological interest.
Sport and leisure
The Stockland Green Leisure Centre, just half a mile from Northcote, is open in the evening and at weekends, and includes a gymnasium, pulse point gym, sports hall, netball and badminton courts, cricket nets and a drama studio. It also hosts a wide range of activities, coaching and social events for adults and children. Virgin Active Star City offers a fully equipped gym, cardiovascular suite, aerobics studio, sauna and steam room and a 20m pool, as well as a separate children’s pool, a kid’s club and a crèche.
Entertainment
Hollywood Social Club, one of the area’s live music venues, is around half a mile from Northcote. Other attractions in the Erdington area include the Aston Manor Road Transport Museum, where the collection of classic and historic vehicles is housed in an original tram depot. There is a choice of cinemas within around two miles of the development, and Birmingham city centre, with its vast variety of dining and shows, is in easy reach by public transport.
Shopping
There is a convenient newsagent and store situated near Northcote at the junction of Rosary Road and George Road, and a further choice of local shops, including a pharmacy and a post office, are a quarter of a mile away around the intersection of Fentham Road and Slade Road. The busy Erdington Centre, a local shopping area, is less than a mile from Northcote and offers a selection of food and drink retailers, speciality shops and high street chains, including Iceland and Co-op supermarkets. The Fort Shopping Park, with around 40 retail outlets, is just two miles to the east.
Transport
Northcote has good public transport links into Birmingham city centre, with the very frequent No 65 bus route passing along Slade Road, around 200 yards away. Gravelly Hill Railway Station, five minutes walk from the development, is served by the Cross-City line with trains into Birmingham New Street and onwards to Longbridge, or outwards to Four Oaks, approximately every ten minutes. And with the Gravelly Hill interchange of the M6 close by, this is an exceptionally convenient commuter base.
Education
There are seven primary schools in Erdington, including Erdington Hall Primary, around ten minutes walk from Northcote, which is a community primary school covering nursery, infant and junior education, with separate play areas for different age ranges and good parent support services. The larger of the two local secondaries is Kingsbury School and Sports College, a community comprehensive that has had Sports College status since 2003.
Health care
A health centre around half a mile from Northcote houses a choice of three GP practices and a dental surgery. All offer a full morning and afternoon Monday to Friday service, and the Reservoir Road Surgery, the largest of the three, is open on Saturday mornings. There is a separate large medical practice in Wood End Road and another dentist in Gravelly Hill, both a little to the east of the development.