This week Erica from Nine To Three Thirty has brought us 5 things to do in Birmingham. It’s an area that I have actually visited a few times and hope to get to again next year to visit some friends. I’m sure they’ll be taking us to a few of these.
Birmingham is the UK’s second city and as you’d expect there’s plenty to do in and around the city. Birmingham was quite a small place until the Industrial Revolution took hold. There’s lots of Birmingham’s industrial heritage to explore, but there are plenty of more up to date sights to enjoy too.
Somewhere for Free: BBC Visitor Centre
The BBC Visitor Centre and Blue Room is well worth a visit. There’s lot to do here especially for selfie lovers. There’s a collection of outfits and memorabilia from BBC TV Shows to discover, you can have your photo taken with Doctor Who’s Tardis or pose behind the Strictly Come Dancing desk. Another favourite is presenting the news or a weather bulletin in the Be on TV area.
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Somewhere for the Whole Day: ThinkTank
The Thinktank is Birmingham’s fun interactive science museum. Favourites for little ones include MiniBrum where the under 8s can run their own mini city and the Science Garden with lots of fun activities in a courtyard in front of the museum. Older visitors will enjoy the planetarium and there’s a chance to see the world’s oldest steam engine.
During the school holidays there are always plenty of special events going on, so there’s always something different to see and do. There’s a café and a place inside to eat packed lunches, plus there’s plenty to do, so you can easily spend a day here.
Somewhere Outdoors: The Canals
They say Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice and there’s certainly a lot of them. The great thing is that they come in close to the very centre of the city. Walking along from the Arena Birmingham along the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal you come across a series of locks. There’s usually a boat or two going through the locks and you can watch Victorian engineering in action as the locks empty and refill to allow the barges to travel downhill. A walk around either Gas Street Basin or Sherborne Wharf (both nearby) will let you admire the many brightly decorated narrow boats.
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Somewhere to Eat: Marco Pierre White’s Steakhouse Bar and Grill
Marco Pierre White’s Steakhouse Bar and Grill has some of the best views of Birmingham available. It’s at the top of the distinctive building, the Cube, and it serves top quality food and it’s a great place for a treat or special occasion. If you are organised you can usually get a Groupon deal to keep the price down.
Somewhere for a Rainy Day: Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
Birmingham is known for its jewellery quarter and this atmospheric part of the city is a great place to wander around on a nice day, but it’s a good wet weather destination too if you head for the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter. This is a fascinating place to visit: a small factory workshop that shut down in the early 1980s everyone just went home and left things as they were when the owners retired. This means it’s a perfectly preserved example of a jewellery maker’s workshop and you really feel like you are stepping back in time.
