The Sowe Valley is a wonderful riverside green space stretching from the North to the South of Coventry - from Hawkesbury Junction to Whitley Grove Wood.

The Sowe Valley Footpath

The Sowe Valley Footpath is a way-marked, riverside stroll along the 8 1⁄2 mile route, allowing you to explore the valley on foot and experience it's highlights along the way. It will offer something new and exciting with every visit all year round!

Find a detailed guide and map here.

This leaflet is designed to help you discover and explore the Sowe Valley and includes history hotspots, fun facts, ideas for games and information on the wide variety of creatures that call the valley home. It also includes some non way-marked circular walks off the Sowe Valley Footpath.

Points of Interest along the Sowe Valley Footpath:

1. Wyken Slough Local Nature Reserve

This site is great for bird spotting – bring along binoculars and take a closer look at the birds on the pool, peer into the reedbed and check out the grassland more closely. It’s good for minibeast hunting – bring along a magnifying glass and creep up on some creepy crawlies! Find more info here.

2. Purcell Road Meadow

This is slightly off the Sowe Valley Footpath but it is well worth stopping off at. It feels like a little piece of countryside in the city.

3. Wyken Croft Nature Park

The park is home to a great array of insects including grasshoppers and crickets – in the summer listen out for their constant chirping and see if you can spot them in the long grass. Find more info here.

4. Dorchester Brookstray

In the spring look out for wild violets amongst the trees along the rivers banks. There is also a wealth of fruit here in the autumn including apple trees and blackberries.

5. Cremblet Wood

Visit it in the spring to see wild daffodils amongst the trees. Games galore: There’s a great Pooh Sticks bridge just on the edge of this wood.

6. Stoke Floods Local Nature Reserve

This site offers a home to 242 species of beetle and over 90 species of birds including grebes and reed warblers. It also offers a winter stop off for many migrating birds such as shoveler and snipe. Find more info here.

7. Willenhall Brookstray

There is so much blackthorn here! The blossom is great in the spring for bees and the sloe berries provide food for birds in the winter! Keep your nose peeled for the sweet smell of meadow sweet in the summer months as it blossoms from June to September.

8. Whitley Grove Wood

History hotspot: Sandstone was quarried here for the original Coventry Cathedral, hence the undulating shape of the wood with its various dells. There are also the remains of an old ‘ice house’ on the edge of the wood, used to store ice for the old Whitley Abbey.

9. Stonebridge Meadows Local Nature Reserve

During spring, vibrant yellow marsh marigolds can be seen in the wetter areas of the site whilst summer sees the locally uncommon pretty harebell growing in the grassland and lots of butterflies.

Find a detailed guide and map here.

We hope you enjoy your visit to The Sowe Valley Footpath. Please act responsibly - the wildlife of the valley asks you to please follow the Countryside Code and help to look after the area.