To the east of Weeford Road and Whitehouse Common Road lies Sutton’ green belt. North of Tamworth Road is Ashfurlong Hall and its grounds, while on the opposite side of Tamworth Road is Wheatmore Farm. Wheatmore is mentioned in a document of 1260 as a place where land had been newly brought into cultivation, while the name Ashfurlong appears often in medieval documents, usually referring to a sizeable district - cottages in Reddicap Hill were referred to as being “in a furlong called Ashfurlong”.

In the later middle ages demand for agricultural produce fell and in many places farmland reverted back to the wild. In 1528 King Henry VIII gave Sutton its Borough Charter, setting out how the newly-constituted town was to be governed - this included a provision that anyone so wishing could build a house on the commons and stake out a farm of up to sixty acres, paying a small ground rent to the Corporation. The Ashfurlong grounds and Wheatmore Farm were brought in from the commons under this clause, both having about sixty acres of land, although by 1824 Miss Lawley’s grounds at Ashfurlong Hall were about thirty acres, mainly parks and gardens, while Mr. Lovatt was farming 120 acres at Wheatmore.

At Ashfurlong the original farmhouse was one of the Bishop Vesey stone houses, little more than a cottage, but this another bay of stone was added and then it was extended again in brick, making it sufficient for a wealthy yeoman. The house was converted into a gentleman’s seat in about 1800 when it had a large addition in front, trebling its size, giving it the appearance of a classical Regency stately home. This was done by Thomas Vaughton, a wealthy Tamworth man who needed a big house in Warwickshire to qualify him to become the High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1804. The new part of the house - it was still known as Ashfurlong House in 1890 - was built of stone from a quarry a few yards away; it faced the old Wheatmoor Farm on the hill opposite. Wheatmore Farm was a blot on the landscape, so Vaughton had the farmhouse rebuilt in stone with battlemented walls so that visitors would think it was the remains of a romantic castle.