I went to Birmingham's 'desperately underrated' attraction and wanted to shove my head in a fly trap
I stopped in my tracks beside Winterbourne's garden pergola and closed my eyes. I'd been caught by the perfume of some flowering plant I can't name, a scent I recognised from somewhere I couldn't quite recall.
From here, just ten minutes from Birmingham City Centre in Edgbaston, I could hear the noise of Brum. A distant hum, but a distinct one. If that didn't serve as a reminder of how close to town I was, the helicopter that thundered overhead, away from the QE, brought me back to earth and I opened my eyes.
It was as though I was seeing it all for the first time again, the hanging wisteria ceiling, the 'Nut Walk' tunnel of hazelnut trees and borders filled with flowers labelled by tags, each with a Latin name I could barely pronounce. In between them, little green dragonflies, darners, zipped, loads of them, the sunlight on their wings creating an ethereal shimmer over bursting blossoms.
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I've lived in this region for almost four decades and I spend a great deal of my time working to find the best ways for other Brummies to spend their leisure time and money, including hunting out brilliant restaurants cheaper than Wetherspoons and free-to-access parks where the kids can run around exploring and you can sit and have a picnic in the sun.
I take recommendations, seek out ideas and try to revisit places I've been taking for granted, to look at them with fresh appreciation. And yet until this week, I've never been to Winterbourne House and Garden. I can't believe I've never experienced it, given it's what I imagine heaven to look like.
I will try and describe it to you, but honestly, I can't do it justice. The photo gallery above won't either, because it can't capture the hum of the bees in the trees, the contrast between the deep red-black leaves and the bright green ones, the scent from the flowers and the feeling that comes from ducking under a topiary arch to find a shady, dappled corner like you're in The Secret Garden.
For such a small house (by posh mansion house standards, at least), there's tons to see, from top lawns and bottom lawns, stream lawns, countless borders and beds, the pergola and the lych gate, lean-tos and glasshouses. And it's designed in such a way that you have to walk into them to see it all, with delights tucked around corners that must have been deliberately designed to bring you those joyful moments of surprise.
I delighted in the Orchid House, humid and hot, at flowers and formations that felt more like a movie set than a real place in Brum. Similarly, the neighbouring Arid House (with its signage warning not to touch lest you be pricked) contained hilariously bulbous succulents and cacti, a thorny euphorbia, towering cartoon-like green spiky arms reaching for the sun and a clambering Queen of the Night, whose vanilla perfume it was keeping from me given it only opens between dusk and early morning and I dared show up after high tea.
If the Carniverous Plant house hadn't been empty while they overhaul it, I'd have gone and dunked my head into the mouth of a giant flytrap, such was my disappointment at missing the flowers. More reason, if I needed it, to return.
The joy kept coming as I continued to explore. Indoors, a volunteer called Peta gave me a full, enthusiastic explanation of the printing press, set in the old family garage. Winterbourne House is owned by the University of Birmingham now, but it used to be a family home and they haven't been eradicated from the place.
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Inside the house itself, I went mooching through bedrooms and sitting rooms so filled with personal belongings that I had to double check on more than one occasion that I wasn't crossing a line by exploring. If you're a nosy parker, you'll love reading through family letters and exploring all of the nooks and crannies, none of them roped off so you're just right in the mix with it all. There's an art gallery too.
I've written about the tea room, so I won't harp on too much about that here, but it's inside the main house. There's also a little gate right down the bottom of the garden that leads to more surprises, again I'll tell you about those in another article.
You exit Winterbourne through the giftshop which in itself is excellent. Volunteers are fun and friendly, cards and art are printed right there in the printworks and there's even a second hand bookshop packed with a range of reads to take home with you. It's brilliant and I snagged a fridge magnet as a gift to myself.
I'm not overegging the pudding when I tell you that Winterbourne is one of Birmingham's most precious, desperately underrated gems. It's got free parking, entry is £8 for adults, £6.90 for kids and over-65s and free to University of Birmingham staff and students on presentation of an ID card. Lucky cats.
If they were charging £16 in, I'd say it was good value for money. Access for £8 feels like a steal, given how much there is to enjoy. And it's only going to get better as we head into a hot Birmingham summer. I can't believe this was on my doorstep for all of this time and it took me this long to discover it. I feel like I've been Winter-bourne again!
Winterbourne House and Garden, 58 Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston, B15 2RT.