Birmingham – well why not? Date: ongoing

Birmingham from the air, 8th April 2010, click here for HUGE version – opens in new window

Birmingham has an image problem, or did have. I think the old perceptions about Birmingham have gone, but my perspective is somewhat warped by the fact that I live here. However; negative comments persist in the media and general comments from people who, quite obviously, have never been.

When you are very familiar with a place it is all too easy to overlook the local attractions, when I started to pull this together I was pleasantly surprised with just how much stuff there is here… none of it new, you just forget about these things on a day to day basis.

Things to do in Birmingham:

First some panoramas (some parallax issues – which means you can see the join)

Art Galleries, Museums & Other

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery – right in the city centre

Barber Institute of Fine Arts – short journey out of town,  “one of the finest small art galleries in Europe” The Observer.

Museum of the Jewellery Quarter – the previous owners of this factory closed up and walked away in 1981, leaving a time capsule. Small tours only, includes demonstrations of jewellery manufacture.

The Back to Back Houses – another time capsule and right in the city, some of the people working here and doing the tours actually lived here.

Aston Hall – look out for the Winter ‘Candlelight tours’.

Ikon Gallery – Contemporary art gallery, changing displays.

Thinktank – Birmingham Science Museum.

Birmingham Nature Centre – scores high on the cute animal scale: Lemurs, Meercats, Red Pandas…

Cadbury World

Sealife Centre