Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
If you like the idea of a garden built by a poet, The Leasowes is worth the detour. William Shenstone turned his family’s farm here into a “ferme ornée” from 1743 — working fields dressed up with a circuit walk, cascades, urns and inscriptions dedicated to friends — and it became one of the most visited gardens in 18th-century Europe, drawing admirers including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Dudley Council has run it as a free public park since 1934, with part of the grounds shared with Halesowen Golf Club. Some of its garden follies were built from stone taken from the ruins of Halesowen Abbey nearby.
