I got to Piccadilly Station about 10 minutes after the hourly train service to Birmingham had departed which gave me plenty of time to contemplate why the ticket price was a lot more than going to London and why it took around 90 minutes to do this journey. It's hardly a ringing endorsement for using the trains to do a relatively short hop. As usual, I got a plus bus ticket to have a cheap day's travel inside the city. And here's the twist...how many people knew that National Express also own a local bus company? There were slightly confusing signs out of Birmingham New Street... go left for the buses and then do an arc round to the main street only to see a passageway to the station which I could have taken if I turned right out of the station. You live and learn for the next time.
Having planned the trip to be Birmingham Botanic Gardens then Winterbourne, due to to my later than planned arrival, it was a case of swapping them round due to the opening hours at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens being longer.
Winterbourne House and Garden is in the heart of University of Birmingham area with the road only having a single pavement with the bus stop not being marked. A short hike is needed to get there but, strangely, it was a case of crossing the road to get onto the pavement before crossing the road again as I didn't fancy my chances of walking on the road.
Once through the entrance and the initial flower beds, this is the view of the ivy-clad house.
There are various greenhouses with each containing different plants. Just a couple of shots - first one is the arid zone with various cactii being grown and the second one is in the tropical zone... it was extremely humid inside there.
Going round the gardens, there were a lot of orchids. Here are a bunch of purple ones with white, pink and red flowers in the background. As I was trying my best to stick to the paths and not go on the grass, I couldn't locate the name of the flowers.
The grounds are fairly extensive and round the back you get to a rustic like scene with a wooden bridge. To the left of the bridge is a little valley with rock garden. There with a number of people walking very carefully on the narrow stone path as a warning notice said it was slippery when wet.
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Heading back to the entrance and this is the view of the tea house. It was a bit bright so I used the HDR setting on my camera to reduce it which is why the colouring is slightly off.
Then it was back to Birmingham city centre to catch the bus to Birmingham Botanic Gardens. I didn't realise that it would have been easier to change buses at the Five Ways shopping centre and save some time. There was a nice feature on the double decker - it had pre-programmed announcements of the current bus stop and the next bus stop, with a display unit showing the same. Perhaps Manchester could implement this?
Birmingham Botanic Gardens has it's own tropical greenhouse as well. But nowhere near as humid as Winterbourne. Not sure if this is giving me the finger or not?
Various tropical plants with indoor pool.
This is the rhododendron walk. Lots of colour everywhere.
This is their take on a rustic scene. On the right in the distance are some tennis courts
A rock garden with a pool of water
There is also an aviary. Here's a parrot nibbling an apple. And yes, it did swivel it's head through 180 degrees
Out of the aviary and there's this pleasant scene with some statues created by an African artist.
The first sign of roses... Didn't do the other coloured roses being from the red rose county (pre-1974 boundary changes!)
And lastly the glasshouses with a range of arid plants. Couldn't take a photo like this when I got there due to the number of people sitting in the benches.
Then it was back to Birmingham New Street and the journey home.
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