Landmarks for visitors
I've seen a few asking about places to see, I'm just a local fan and thought I'd share some knowledge/history... There's Ozzy's childhood home around 10 min walk from the villa (14 Lodge Road), and there's The Crown Pub on the corner next to Birmingham New Street train station
(The Crown is a former pub on the corner of Station Street and Hill Street, Birmingham. It's another local venue that has been called the "birthplace of heavy metal". It was built in 1881, and many bands have played there including the Who, Status Quo, UB40, Duran Duran, Thin Lizzy, Marc Bolan, Supertramp, Judas Priest and several of Robert Plant's bands before he co-founded Led Zeppelin. The bands played upstairs in what was known as Henry's Blueshouse.) It's boarded up but it's great to go look at.
Inside the train station, there's Ozzy the bull and some Birmingham history featuring Ozzy on the side of the Wetherspoons pub in the station, the same entrance as the street The Crown is on.
There's the famous 'Black Sabbath Bench' on Broad Street
Robannas Studios in Aston
There's also a small city called Lichfield where they were regulars while they were still named Earth, this is where they first played their song 'Black Sabbath' - more below, that's about 30 minutes on the train from Aston. Nothing remains to commemorate sadly but it's a beautiful city.
Photo of Sabbath performing in Lichfield
Lichfield Discovered | Black Sabbath History
"No, we wouldn't have believed it ourselves until a couple of messages we received told us that the now demolished Robin Hood pub, one time home of The Pokey Hole Club, was where on 1st August 1969 a band called Earth decided to debut a song they'd written that morning called 'Black Sabbath'. As Norman Hood of The Pokey Hole Club told us, "The band - then called Earth - arrived to play one of their regular gigs at the club, which at that time was held at The Robin Hood pub on the corner of Frog Lane and St Johns Street. They had recently been working on a number of their own, called 'Black Sabbath' and decided to try it out. As both Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have mentioned in print, the reception to this was astonishing and hardened their resolve to do more original material. During the usual curry (at The Star Of Bengal!) and kick around (Woolworths carpark, which is now behind the B&M store in the town center next to the market square) Tony mentioned that they were going to have to change their name, due to an American band also being called Earth. They did not say - at that time - it would change to Black Sabbath. That presumably was decided later. Workington undoubtedly saw the name change, but Lichfield saw the birth of Heavy Metal". The Star of Bengal is now The Bengal but still going strong on Bore Street. The Old Pokey Hole Club, still run by Norman and others is now based at Lichfield Sports Club on Eastern Avenue. And that band that blew the audience away on an August night in 1969. Well, they did ok for themselves...."
Sorry if the links are bad, let Me know and I can use an image hoster instead, just wanted to share the love
EDIT: I've just found this I thought was cool - The Home of Metal
EDIT 2: There's also Moseley Bog for any LOTR fans (J. R. R. Tolkien lived nearby, as a child, and acknowledged the site as inspiration for the ancient forests in his books The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.)