We've been to the UK many times but never to Birmingham. We are only taking trains now. Is Birmingham worth using as a base and taking trains for day trips? We love history and art. By the way, you helped me with our trip this year to London and Paris (son going with us first time to Europe). Decent trip, but we caught Covid in Paris. That changed our plans to the inside of a hotel room.)
Thanks.
Birmingham has some fine Victorian buildings. Stratford-upon-Avon is a short train ride away. Also consider going to Shrewsbury for a day out - which can also be done from Manchester. Birmingham to Cardiff takes around 2 hours but also consider using the same route as far as Chepstow - see the Castle and catch a local bus to Tintern Abbey (ruin). York can also be done as a day trip by train from either Birmingham or Manchester.
I think 2 hours each way is too far for a day trip if you want to spend a decent amount of time at your destination rather than in transit. Leicester is an hour by train if you are interested in seeing the Richard III Museum, although it’s not big on other sights.
Birmingham has a decent museum and art gallery, but the nearby Black Country Living Museum warrants a longer visit.
Your other post mentions Manchester - this would be my choice.
There are some other central sites in Leicester worth a visit if they match your interests, for example the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on New Walk has a world-class collection of German Expressionist paintings and Richard Attenborough's ceramic collection. As the address suggests it is on a 18th century pedestrian street which has been maintained that way banning modern vehicles such as bicycles. Unfortunately, the Jewry Wall Museum is currently closed for a major refurbishment.
From Birmingham (not my first choice despite 20 years living nearby and working there) there is the Black Country Living Museum https://bclm.com/ in Dudley in the Black Country. Bus and train.
Stratford upon Avon is about an hour by train. Warwick is nearby, as is Royal Leamington Spa.
The art museum in Birmingham is ok. Has a cafe.
Coventry is about half an hour by slow train or 20 minutes in fast train.
There are lovely National Trust properties around but all require more than a train or bus, except for the very interesting Back to Backs in the middle of Birmingham.
Which month?
Birmingham isn't the immediate choice as a base but does have some definite advantages. You can download a copy of the Birmingham City heritage trail here.
The Birmingham Back to Back houses are worth visiting, but they are guided tours only.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/birmingham-back-to-backs#Opening%20times
Birmingham also has a massive canal network and there are many good walks along the different parts. have a look at these two websites for ideas.
http://www.birmingham-canalwalks.co.uk/
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/why-study-at-bcu/living-in-birmingham/culture/best-canal-walks
The Art Gallery is being refurbished at the moment (reopening 2024?) and apparently a lot of the paintings aren't on show.
Close to Birmingham (regular train service takes 20-30 minutes) is Coventry with its ruined cathesdral and the iconic 1950s/60s building beside it. This revolutionises any previous ideas about cathedral architecture.
https://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/
Worcester again with its cathedral is about an hour on the train.
https://www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/
There is Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum
https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/museums/worcester-city-art-gallery-museum/
and also a museum about the English Civil War.
https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/museums/the-commandery/
Don't miss the Tudor House museum
https://www.tudorhouse.org.uk/
or the Greyfriar's House and Garden (a Medieval merchant's house with a walled garden.)
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greyfriars-house-and-garden
There are details of a town walk here.
Shrewsbury has already been mentioned and is a lovely 'black and white' town centre with a lot of old buildings and an abbey.,. Have a look at the town trail here.
https://www.thetouristtrail.org/trails/england/shropshire/central-circuit/
If you do get to Leicester, there is the National Gas Museum in Leicester - we found this fascinating especially as the history of the gas industry is very much a forgotten part of our heritage.
Thanks for all your comments. Very helpful.
Birmingham can offer good cultural tourism experience. https://www.artfund.org/explore/get-inspired/features/guide-to-art-in-birmingham-museums-galleries
Barber Institute of Fine Arts has a good collection in a fairly compact gallery. https://www.artfund.org/explore/exhibitions/2021/01/01/sights-of-wonder-photographs-from-the-1862-royal-tour
Leamington Spa gallery puts the focus on artists connected with the regions.
Rail rover:
http://www.railrover.org/pages/west-midlands-day-tripper.html
I'm late to this party, but I've found this discussion very helpful. I'll be in the UK for 3 weeks from mid-May. I have five days open, between my stay in York and my final week in London (I'm flying nonstop in and out of Heathrow). I've been curious about Birmingham because my late aunt by marriage grew up there. My first draft of my itinerary had all five days in Liverpool, which I've always wanted to visit.
I'd like to see Birmingham. But I don't know that I'd want to spend five days there, or miss Liverpool entirely.
Thanks to all of you for the posts here, with so many resources I can explore.
BTW I'll be traveling by train, not renting a car, but I'd also consider a National Express coach journey from Birmingham to London.
Suz - be sure to visit Chester - just a short train ride from Liverpool.https://www.visitcheshire.com/chester
Best you start a new thread if you want advice on your plans.
In a word, NO
In a word yes
Birmingham is in the centre of the rail network and you can take day trips in all directions
Ps there are two rail routes to Stratford upon Avon
In a word yes....
more hiding under the surface a superficial passing through might miss...
Birmingham Botanical Gardens near the university at Selly Oak station.
A couple of further stops south on the Cross City train line is Bournville. That's the home of Cadbury chocolate, the factory, the factory store, and the canal which was used to bring the raw materials in and the yummy stuff out. Next to the factory is beautiful village of Bournville where workers were housed in a planned community where people were (still are) taken care of from cradle to grave.
Another 3 stops is Alvechurch and famous for its narrowboat marina and hiring facilities, beautiful views across the countryside.
At the northern end of the Cross City line is Lichfield, beautiful cathedral, and northwest is Dudley with the excellent Black Country Living Museum (good fish and chips, a bygone era, trams, horses, and an electric narrowboat trip into a genuine canal tunnel). Further northwest is Stoke-on-Trent, home of the potteries, including Wedgwood and its museum.
Back in town, on the Jewelry Line southwest from Snow Hill station just 1 stop is the Jewelry Quarter. This is where all sorts of jewelry and small items were made, and jewelry still is. One old jewelry workshop has been preserved as it was on the day it closed and has been made into a working museum. Seriously interesting.
The line continues southwest to Kidderminster where world famous carpet was made, and the Kidderminster station shares the carpark with the Severn Valley preserved steam Railway. 16 miles behind steam along the river (Severn) through villages and countryside which have not changed since the 40s and 50s. Walking along the footpaths next to the line is unceasingly gorgeous. Because the line is a full 16 miles each way all the way to Bridgnorth (complete with a big slighted castle and tea rooms, and a water powered funicular) and back, along with stops in Bewdley for visiting the swans and taking tea, and Highley where a country park and Engine House are; Arley as a great stop on a walk or place to start.... https://www.svr.co.uk/visit-us/ I should disclose that I spent years volunteering on the SVR, including the Santa Specials when cold air and steam make for incredibly nostalgic photos, so I might not be completely unbiased about the best preserved railway in the UK, nay the world.
Just a little further than Kidderminster is Worcester. Absolutely magnificent cathedral, with a worthy set of bells. Well worth a visit.
Again back in Birmingham, just a very short walk from the centre is the National Trust's Back to Back houses. This is the way workers' houses were a hundred years ago, around a yard, with no green space and few amenities. Workers would do piece work for various factories. Very educational and humbling.
I've about run out of space but hardly started. Just don't write off Birmingham and its industrial neighbour the Black Country (named for the colour of the air from all the factories, not the colour of the people).
Thanks, all, for your contributions, especially Nigel! The more I look into it, the more I like the idea of booking into a hotel in central Birmingham for five days. There are enough things to see and do in the city, and within easy reach for day trips, to fill that time. I certainly want to see Coventry, which will take one day, and I'm leaning toward a trip to the Black Country Museum which will take another.
Besides, by that point in my trip I'll probably need a day to mostly kick back, relax, and recharge. I believe those days will span a bank holiday weekend (end of May), so I'd rather not try to travel to London by train on the weekend. At this time I plan to go to London on the Tuesday.
If I develop specific questions about my plans in the Birmingham area, I'll probably start a new topic. It's not a hot topic around here, understandably. I'm interested in Birmingham because of the family connection; I don't know that it would be a big contender for my itinerary otherwise.
Hi Suz - did your grandmother grow up in the centre of Brum or in one of the nearby suburbs? I have ancestors who lived in the Moseley area and in the Black Country - Stourbridge. It is very interesting to walk the same streets.
I even had one ancestor who walked from Brum to London along the canal with everything he owned on his back when he couldn't get work in Brum. He eventually became a tram driver in Bermondsey, East London, south of the River, and was my great great grandfather.
Nigel - That's so interesting. Thanks. I've been researching my family on ancestry.com. The folks I'm finding on my family tree didn't live easy lives by any means.
My family link to Brum is my late aunt by marriage.
To share a few details, I've researched my aunt's family home address on Google maps; seems to be in an area marked as "Soho," about 3 miles out from the city centre. Her father and I think grandfather were in the jewelry business. From what we can tell just from Google street view, the old family home, and the others on that street, are gone and replaced by newer row houses.
One additional day trip possible from Birmingham is Bletchley Park, the WWII codebreaking center. It's 70 to 82 minutes away by train, with a change in Milton Keynes. I think the train ticket could potentially be quite a bit cheaper if purchased early, but it would be nice to have a nice day at Bletchley Park, because there are multiple buildings to visit. One can spend close to a full day there. The site offers tours and an audio guide.
Soho Foundry was a ground breaking factory dating from 1775 belonging to Boulton and Watt used to produce, among other things, steam engines for water pumping from mines and also water into canals. Nearby Soho House, Boulton;s home is open to the public
see www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/soho-house
The oldest working steam engine is in the Think Tank science museum just outside the centre of the city
You should also Google Lunar Society for more information about Boulton, Watt and others
If you click on the Guardian's website (link below) and scroll down the page there's an article about Birmingham that you might find interesting.
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/dec/31/eight-great-uk-winter-walks-with-a-theme
Thanks, everyone, for the helpful suggestions.
I'm booked into a Premier Inn in central Birmingham for five days, with the intent of exploring the city, taking an excursion or two as day trips, and kicking back and relaxing, before plunging into the lovely hubbub of London for my last week before going home.
Also if anybody in the family is a car enthusiast the Coventry Transport Museum is a must. The area was a centre for the British motor industry, and it also has the Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC world speed record cars.
Additionally its worth visiting Coventry for the ruins of the medieval Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed by German bombs in World War II and is now a memorial, and the contrasting new Coventry Cathedral next to it which is the largest modernist Christian church in Britain.
