Art & History in the Midlands

From 3 days / 2 nights’ duration – departures throughout the year
Return Executive Coach Travel
2 nights half board at a 3* or 4* hotel in The Midlands
Excursion package with entrances, guides + 1 x lunch as detailed in the itinerary
Group Organiser’s Personal Liability Insurance Cover is automatically included

Price on application - subject to numbers and inclusions

Pick-up points determined by where the majority of bookings originate from

Sample Itinerary
Day 1 – Travelling to the Midlands making a visit to a place / attraction of interest mid-way. Checking in at the hotel, dinner is included this evening.

Day 2 – Breakfast included. Today is dedicated to the city of Birmingham, beginning with an included 1 hour guided Backstage tour of The Birmingham Rep. Next there will be free time to visit the Library of Birmingham (free flow visit) set over 10 levels, which shares a spacious entrance and foyer with The Rep. Located in Centenary Square, the library along with The REP and Symphony Hall forms the cultural heart of the city. You will see the outdoor Amphitheatre surrounded by wildflower planting, used for performances of music, drama and storytelling. There are also 2 outdoor garden terraces in the library, one of which offers a panoramic viewing gallery from where there is a good view of its surroundings from one of the highest points in the city.
Next you will be transferred to the Birmingham Botanic Garden where lunch can be purchased. This 15-acre green oasis is home to around 7,000 plants, shrubs and trees, including many rarities. There are four glasshouses to explore (Mediterranean, subtropical, tropical and arid), as well as a fragrant rose garden, colourful cottage garden, shady woodland walk, rock pool, alpines, the National Bonsai Collection, and much more.
Today concludes with a visit to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. The galleries at the Grade I listed Barber Institute boast an outstanding art collection and concert hall with perfect acoustics. See masterpieces by Botticelli, Rubens, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner and Rossetti, Monet, Manet and Van Gogh. The jewel in the cultural crown of the University of Birmingham, the Barber lives the vision of its founder, Lady Barber, who wished to establish a centre ‘for the study and encouragement of art and music’. There is also a dazzling coin gallery, housing Europe's most significant collection of Roman, Byzantine and medieval coins, alongside decorative art and sculpture as well as changing exhibitions and displays of prints and drawings. Returning to the hotel dinner is included.

Day 3 – Breakfast included. Checking out of the hotel today begins in Dudley. Pop on your hard hat, hop on a canal boat and explore the underground world of Dudley Canal Tunnel and Limestone Mines, learning about thousands of years of history in just 45 minutes! The Dudley Canal Trust has been restoring these underground waterways since the 1960’s and today, this award-winning production contains videos, lifelike reconstructions and immersive music and light shows. Travel the full length of the canal and find out about the tropical shallow sea that once covered the local land and created the fossils you see today. This is where miners dug out thousands of tonnes of limestone to fuel the Industrial Revolution, something you will learn about from your skipper leading the way. The limestone itself is estimated to be over 400million years old. Refreshments can be purchased here before the short journey to Wightwick Manor (NT), which displays the legacy of a family's passion for Victorian art and design. In 1937 Geoffrey Mander MP did something remarkable and persuaded the National Trust to accept a house that was just 50 years old. The local paint manufacturer and Liberal MP had been left the timber-framed house by his father Theodore. Taking inspiration from a lecture on 'the House Beautiful' by Oscar Wilde, Theodore and his wife Flora decorated its interiors with the designs of William Morris and his Arts and Crafts contemporaries. It houses a remarkable collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and their followers.
A light lunch is included here before ccontinuing homeward, returning to your original departure point later today.

Simply Groups reserve the right to make minor changes to the itinerary due to circumstances beyond our control