West Bromwich and Dudley host many interesting heritage sites and green spaces, whereas Birmingham ‘proper’ is better for shops and bars - take your pick!
Must do
These are the quick and easy bits you MUST do in the region!
Orange chips - check the chippy near where you’re staying to see if they’ve got Black Country chips! We recommend Black Country chippy in Stone Cross which is very local. These are essentially bright orange battered chips, and are AMAZING.
Real Black Country ale - if you’re into ales at all, this is the place to be. Real ales are abundant, with local breweries offering tours and running some pubs too. The Wheatsheaf (Holdens, and very traditional in look and feel) and The Three Horseshoes (Bradleys) in West Bromwich are particular favourites, both offering proper pub grub - cobs, scratchings, pork pies - and traditional pub games with their drink.
The Black Country Living Museum - details are below but you’ve no doubt have heard Laudy praise it a squillion times by now.
Absolute bangers
Here are some of the best places ever - we have been back after our school trips, we promise!
The Black Country Living Museum| ∞*
Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ
This is like Beamish but arguably cooler with over 80 reconstructed shops, houses and industrial workshops over 29 acres, with demos, rides, and things to eat and drink! It spans from the 1700s to the early 1960s, and there is something for everyone. Our personal highlights include the trolleybus down the 40s, schools, the chemist’s and physic garden, the motoring shops, and the mines! Peaky Blinders fans will know that much of the show was filmed here, and you can buy flat caps at the Gentleman’s Outfitters. There’s a working chip shop, a sweetshop/ tuckshop, and many pubs onsite when you get tired of walking.
Sandwell Valley Country Park & Farm + Forge Mill Farm
Approx. 5min from church
A beautiful expanse of meadows and lakes, woodlands and wetlands, a small visitor farm as well as a working farm, as well as playgrounds and a sensory garden. Over 1,800 acres of gorgeousness, with muntjac deer and water voles, which unfortunately set us up for disappointment when it came to Clapham Common!
Happy memories at the park at various points in history. The structures in the postcards still exist and are much brighter irl!
Very family friendly
Oak House Museum
Oak Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B70 8HJ
Oak House is a lovely half-timbered Tudor yeoman farmer's house, with beautiful timber and brickwork, 17th century furnishings, and a bowling green. There is a tearoom offering refreshment and a playground offering respite from the kids! It is a beautiful place, and is open semi-regularly during August, and is definitely open on the Sunday. The oaks which once surrounded it (though the house is made of trees from further afield) were used to make lock-gates for the Birmingham Canal and John Wesley twice preached in the courtyard!
Bromwich Hall/ Manor House Museum
Hall Green Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B71 2EA
One of the most important Medieval buildings, its 750 year history means the walls have heard a lot. It was home to the Solicitor General to Charles I, a residence of the Earl of Dartmouth, as well as housing ordinary families when it became tenements in the late 1800s, before becoming extremely prestigious public house from the 1960s! They’ve not released their calendar yet but are worth a visit.
Dudley Zoo & Castle
Castle Hill, Dudley, DY1 4QF
An intriguing mix of, well, a zoo and an 11th century castle, and a restored 50s chairlift to top it off? Home to everything from penguins and snow leopards to axolotls and poison dart frogs, as well as some of the rarest species on earth, such as the Bali Mynah and black and white ruffed lemurs. It is said to be Very haunted so beware if you’re scared, or go on a ghost tour if you aren’t…
B’ham Classics
Jewellery Quarter
Birmingham, 10 or so minutes away by tram
Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is still world renowned, and is a great place to visit even if you’re not planning to buy anything. Elliot is very fond of its red-brick Victorian architecture, and Laudy loves the quirky side streets and fun museums. These include the Coffin Works, where the makers of Churchill and Princess Diana’s coffins work, and the Pen Museum, which documents Brum’s role in global literacy rates growing - three quarters of the world’s pens in the mid to late 19th century were manufactured in the city.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Rd, Birmingham B15 3TR
A highly curated and manicured gardens, with many funky plants - a great use of a summer evening. We unfortunately couldn’t have the wedding there as they have such a small maximum capacity [broken heart emoji]
The Canals
Everyone has been told by a Brummie at least once - “Birminnum has more canals than Veniz.” They’re lovely and lush in some spots, with wildlife and cute dogs, like near the local Pumping Station, and full of shopping trollies in other spots…