Winterbourne House and Garden

I visited Winterbourne House and Garden on June 10^th, as part of the University of Birmingham’s ‘Community Day’, with my sister. We had always known about Winterbourne; I have visited the house before, and my sister had a work ‘do’ here a while ago, but neither of us had properly explored the gardens before. (I did a mini blog about the Community Day here)

The entrance fee was £1 for Community Day, it is usually £4 (prices can be seen on their website). The entrance is sited at the end of a driveway; the house is set back from Edgbaston Park Road. One sight that always makes me smile here is the sheer amount of bees on the plants along the pathway! I thought it was lavender bushes, but Winterbourne tells me it is in fact Nepeta.

Inside the house are a few rooms which have been opened up to allow you to explore and get a feel for what the house was like when it was a private residence. As an aside, my Nan used to work for Nettlefold! There is a little train track, some clothes that were worn, old books, tobacco boxes, and all sorts of nooks and crannies to explore.

Outside, there is a terrace where you can sit and have dinner if the weather is fine enough. The terrace overlooks the formal garden, with its’ lawns and flower borders. My sister and I went to explore the garden, so off we went down some steps and under the lime trees.

I then decided to go through a gap in the hedge – what a good decision! It opened up into another part of the garden, with hidey spaces, benches, and bee hives! We decided to stay on the lawns instead of the paths, and carried on:

We then came across a little gem; the woodland garden. I LOVE things like this; it reminds me of going to the Lost Gardens of Heligan a few years ago. It was such a surprise to see this in a Birmingham suburb, it really is somewhere you should all visit!

Here are some pics, though I feel like this blog and the pictures won’t do it justice.

It really is a place to visit to get the feeling yourself. More pics are up on my flickr account, and you can also read more at these links:

Visit Birmingham 

Trip Advisor 

And of course, their own website: 

L x

Pics taken by me and/or my sister, June 10th. Feel free to nick 'em or visit and take your own. Click for bigger.