Birmingham England? Close by things to visit?
 

We will be in this area for one week in June attending the International Rotary convention. Any good tips for things to do and see in the general area?

Ironbridge

Coventry Cathedral

B'ham is a good base to see lots . . .

Coventry Cathedral, Kenilworth Castle, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, the northern Cotswolds, and lots more.

I'd like to add The crooked house pub in Dudley near Birmingham as an interesting place to visit.

http://www.sedgleymanor.com/historic...ked_house.html



Muck

What kind of thing are you into? Birmingham itself has great shopping and a couple of theatres.

It's also a main rail hub so you can get to most of the UK in a couple of hours.

Ironbridge and Bridgnorth are pretty. If you are prepared to hire a car then how about a trip to a vineyard?

I live about 15 mins by train away and when relatives have visited they have liked Pennyfarthing vineyard, Cosford air museum (Dad did national service in the RAF)Bridgenorth and Blakenhall!!!

The exclamation marks for Blakenhall are because it is in Wolverhampton, and not a very pretty part, but it is the best place I know to buy samosas and I buy wired and wonderful fruit and veg there to confuse my brother.

There are a few castles in the area in various stages of repair and then there is the balti strip. You can't really visit witu eating a balti.

<It's also a main rail hub so you can get to most of the UK in a couple of hours>

As this is factually incorrect it's not very helpful to the OP.

I lived in Brindleyplace in Central Birmingham for a few years - thic is where the International Convention Centre is situated (where I assume your convention is to be based. This is a great area with loads of great restaurants and is effectively canal central(narrow boat tours of teh canal system are always available) for the whole country. The Symphony Hall in teh conevtion centre is one of the best venues in teh country and host not only the CBSO but many live acts and shows of all description.

My favourite restaurants in Brindleyplace include:

Thai Edge
Ceilo (modern Italian)
Le Petit Blanc (french)

Birmingham has more Michelin starred restaurants (3) than any other city in the country - Parnells and Simpsons are well worth a visit.

http://www.brindleyplace.com/

Also worth a visit in the area is the Ikon art gallery (has a great and authentic Tapas restaurant.

For great cheap indian food check out the Balti triangle, home of the british curry
Ludlow in Shropshire is a bit of a drive but a very quant town with lots of interesting architecture.

The Malvern Hills, home of Sir Edward Elgar are 40 mins away for great walking and views

I highly recommend Ironbridge (basically it's the birthplace of the industrial revolution). It was one of the highlights of our last U.K. trip. The various museums are interesting and the setting in the gorge is quite attractive.

Of the museums, both my husband and myself liked the Blist's Hill Victorian town. I loved the Tile museum (the art tiles were amazing) and my husband loved the Museum of Iron. If you go, get a 'passport' that is good for ALL the museums - really worth it.

Almost forgot - website with some good info about the place:

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/

<It's also a main rail hub so you can get to most of the UK in a couple of hours>

<As this is factually incorrect it's not very helpful to the OP>

OK I'll qualify that.

From Birmingham you can get to Cardiff, London and Manchester in two hours or less. It takes another hour (an I was using the term in the colloquial sense of a few) to get to Scotland and longer to get to Cornwall.