Parking a motorhome
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But who in their right minds would want to visit Birmingham?
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Have you ever visited Birmingham?
Perhaps it was a "tongue in cheek" post or an attempt to be amusing but you may not be aware of what the city offers.
Some possible reasons to visit in a normal year :
The fine city Art Gallery and Museum
The Barber Institute of Fine Art at The University of Birmingham
The Sea Life Centre
The Think Tank science museum
The National Indoor Arena for indoor athletics, national badminton championships and myriad concerts of different genres
The Town Hall for concerts and free organ recitals
Symphony Hall - a fine concert venue, home of the renowned Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and numerous concerts of various genres
The International Convention Centre
At least three fine theatres offering a range of plays, ballet , musicals and concerts
The canal heritage and regenerated Brindley Place
Two cathedrals
Various other museums and a National Trust house near Birmingham University
A fine library in an interesting modern building
Shopping including the German Christmas market
Some people may wish to visit their children at one of the three universities
Some may wish to attend free lectures at one of the universities
Some may even wish to experience the vibrant night life of Broad Street.
Obviously many of the above have not been possible this year.
(I am not a Brummie but I recognise some of what the city offers and how it is sometimes underrated by some people who know nothing about it.)
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🤣🤣🤣 You brave man Nellie. It was my first thought, based I admit on my one and only past visit in the early 90’s when it was to be honest, as grim as it gets. Somewhat reinforced when travelling through New Street by train down the years, where it was a regular announcement to guard luggage carefully once doors opened as opportunist thieves thought nothing of hopping onto trains and grabbing a bag!😱
But I recognise it will have lots of history, principally the canals. The cathedrals are “new build” (1715, and Catholic one 19th Century😂). Like most cities it has good and bad. It’s not in my top twenty places to visit in UK, but doing the Canals and Waterways Museum is on my bucket list. Ok for a long weekend in Winter. 😁
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I think there are quite a few folk on here who don't like cities and towns, preferring the countryside. I am not one of them as I love them. So much of our history and what we are now is based around what happened in these towns and cities. This is very true of Industrial Heritage a subject I am particularly interested in. We are fortunate that there are few Club sites that can set us down near the centre of these places.
David
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In more normal times, city breaks have much to commend them during the latter part of the year rather than a soggy trudge through the woods.
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It was tongue in cheek, hence the emoji, but certainly not a place we 'd want to visit, as we very seldom go into a town never mind a city, especially during covid....just not our thing.
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Canal and River Trust Dunelm, lots of walks from Brindley Place, a nice way to see a bit of the City. We would do it as part of a long weekend taking in Black Country Living Museum, which is not far away in Dudley. A look at Bourneville would be interesting as well.
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit-pdf/Birmingham_City_Centre_Canals.pdf
We don’t mind occasionally visiting a City Centre if there is something of interest there, usually things like very old cathedrals, churches, good Museums and Art Galleries. My OH would go into meltdown if I was let loose in the Jewellery Quarter😂 Love Edinburgh, it’s compact enough to walk the Centre, as are Exeter and Truro. York of course is simply stunning. We live only 25 minutes from Leeds, but apart from the Royal Armouries, it doesn’t attract us, haven’t been more than three times in last 20 years. Once to theatre, once to a big Craft Show.
Manchester.....☹️ Only for sport as far as we are concerned. And the odd big rock concert. Sheffield we know very well, where to go, what to see, where not to go😱
London needs careful research, and a huge wallet. We enjoy the odd jaunt every once a decade!
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Ttda
Thank you for the link. I am aware of all these opportunities to explore the canal network in Birmingham and indeed have done so.
Your earlier post mentioned a Canal and Waterways Museum but, as I thought, there isn't a specific one in Birmingham.
A recommendation when you visit The Black Country Museum is that you take a canal boat trip into the Dudley tunnel and limestone caverns. It is a separate entity but accessible from the museum. You will need at least a full day if you wish to do this and explore the museum fully.
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Thanks Dunelm. That was the bit we wanted to do, recall watching someone do it on a TV programme and it looked interesting. I’ve been interested in canals since my school days, I did Social and Economic History and James Brindley featured as one of the pioneers of the early Industrial Revolution.
I can recommend a day trip myself that is city based but still a real voyage of discovery.......a boat down the Manchester Ship Canal, best done Manchester to Liverpool. Takes in Bridgwater Canal, a swing Aquaduct and some interesting scenery. A very different day out. We did Cathedrals in Liverpool as well.
I knew Nellie was only joking by the way😁
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It is a long time since e did the Manchester canal trip with our social group. we did the trip the other way round as we are closer to Liverpool and we visited the war museum. Very enjoyable. Also enjoyed black country museum and the canal trip
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I wonder what the OP thinks of it so far?
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It goes without saying that many of our towns and cities are bordered by rivers and parks which can all be enjoyed without entering the shopping areas.
Even in this Covid shortened year we have explored the delights of Oxford (very quiet in July), Shrewsbury (far nicer than Chester) and Canterbury, (again very quiet).
Shrewsbury really was an unexpected delight with a meandering River Severn bordered by the town gardens of which Percy Thrower was Superintendent for close on 30 years. His house during that time is located at the entrance to the gardens.
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Ideally located but expensive at £28.20 for two in low season.
We stayed on the CCC Ebury Hill non facility site a few miles to the East of Shrewsbury. Very nice site, nice local walks and only four miles to Park and Ride. In October we paid an incredibly low price of £13.50 a night.
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We like Shrewsbury. It has a lot to interest us, with the Abbey, the Castle and the River. We are Ellis Peter’s fans as well, and I was lucky enough to enjoy the Brother Cadfael exhibition that was close by the Abbey, long gone now sadly. We did the Battlefield as well, Church there is worth a visit.
Peedee, don’t know if it’s still as easy, but we parked in a public car park next to the Abbey with our MH when we went. No high barriers at the time, but it was a few years ago. We were touring Worcester/Shropshire, used Bromyard Downs (future uncertain), a very nice CL just outside Ludlow, (another great town if you love history, churches, castles and nice food👍), then onto Much Wenlock Site which is now private/redeveloped. We have found a very nice CL with serviced pitches and a brand new swish loos and showers not far from Church Stretton that fills in for MW Site.
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I agree excellent location for motorhomers who want to leave their vans on site. Also a handy Co-Op next to the Park and Ride.
David
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I'm not a city fan, much prefer to be in the open, be it hills or coast. I think living in a small village out in the country I'm just not used to the noise so city breaks can be difficult if we end up in a hotel in the thick of it.
Not a big museum or art gallery fan unless something special. I did however enjoy London when we visited a few years ago, we stayed at the club site Abbey Wood.
Rome was another city we both enjoyed and would go back again for a longer stay.
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