Stays near Balsall Common

Balsall Common is a large village in the borough of Solihull, about five miles north-west of Kenilworth and seven miles west of central Coventry, only three miles from the city's western edge. It was part of Warwickshire until local government changes moved it to Solihull.

The village is split between the parishes of Berkswell to the east and Balsall, which also takes in Balsall Street, Temple Balsall and Fen End, with 7,458 residents in 2021. The name is thought to come from the Anglo-Saxon baelle, meaning a corner of land, with heale, a sheltered place.

It is a young village. Until the 1930s there were only a couple of hamlets of six to twelve houses each and a few scattered cottages; development joined them up after the Second World War. Its districts include Needler's End, Yew Tree, Catchems Corner, Balsall Street and Hallmeadow, built in the 1990s.

Berkswell station, on the Coventry to Birmingham line, is actually in Balsall Common and the Heart of England Way passes through. HS2 is being built on the edge of the village, including the 425-metre Balsall Common Viaduct, which makes the area busy with construction teams.

Stoke Lodge and Stoke House are about 8 miles by road from Balsall Common, Sullivan Heights about 9 miles and Humber Hub about 10 miles. For HS2 crews working on this stretch, a whole house in Coventry gives a bed each, a kitchen and parking for the vans.