Birmingham Xmas Market 2022
This is a quick video to give you some flavour of Birmingham at Christmas 2022. It was taken on 12/11/2022. It shows that everything is not all doom and gloom – just most of it
Great Barr Hall
Great Barr Hall is up for sale for 7m and has been for a long time. I’ve lived within a mile or two of it always and I didn’t know you could wander around the grounds freely. Well, you can and it’s an amazing place to explore and no one is there!
Solihull
I like going to Solihull. It is one of the few places around that you can actually still drive to and park easily. It is 24 miles from where I live but it is quicker to get to and park than Birmingham which is about 8 miles away. So should you pay it a visit – well have a brief look around and see what you think.
Once you are parked you get to wander into House of Fraser and then into the shopping centre called Mell Square. It’s got the usual stores WH Smith, Boots, , Marks and Spencer.
It’s all privately owned by a very rich evangelical local Christian guy called Lord Edmiston. Then you get to walk down the high street with more chain shops. The gem is Touchwood Court a shopping mall that opened in 2001 and houses the flagship John Lewis store. They famously decide to open here rather than in the larger Birmingham City Centre. It’s all about an enjoyable retail experience made more enjoyable by watching the well heeled people of Solihull spending their hard earned cash.
2019 Birmingham Christmas Market
I know lots of people love the Birmingham Christmas Market and really enjoy going. However it leaves me cold and more so in the rain – which happened a LOT before Christmas. This is from 2019 before the pandemic.
Serbian Orthodox Church
If you go into the leafy suburbs of Bournville Birmingham you come across a strange building. It is the Serbian Orthodox Church of The Holy Prince Lazar completed in 1968. They opened their doors for the heritage weekend in 2017 and we went in.
The priest was talking. He explained in muted English that they hold services every Saturday night which last between 2 and 3 hours. The congregation, which stands, is usually over 150 people with the women facing the icon of Mary on the left and the men facing the Icon of Jesus on the right. The service has music plain chant.
There is a Wikipedia Article on the church here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Prince_Lazar,_Birmingham and more details on St Lazar here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazar_of_Serbia.
Bus Ride To Brum
This movie was shot on Saturday 3rd of March 2018 – I took my second ever bus ride to Birmingham – 8 miles away. The Beast From The East was dying. I might repeat the experience sometime.
Packington Hall
This is the main family home. Lord and Lady Guernsey, members of the Ayeslford family have just taken over occupancy. The mansion dated originally from 1693 but was pretty much rebuilt in 1979 after a major fire. You can see that the Aylesford family have managed to hold on to their ancestral wealth rather well. There is no penny pinching here.
Of course, the grounds were laid out by Capability Brown. There seems almost to have been a law that all mansions in the 18th century in England were laid out by him. So there always is a lake, trees and fantastic naturalistic parkland. And that is what is here – but a mile away from the airports, train stations and motorway complexes.
As it stands what we have seen is imposing but as we drive out over the estate roads we see this building in front of us. It is the estate Church – St James’ Church is a red brick building with four domes topped by finials in neo-classical style, built to celebrate the return to sanity of King George III. The church does not belong to a parish — it is owned and immaculately maintained by the Aylesford family.
Now to have a huge mansion, a massive estate, a landscape garden and a walled garden within the centre of England but to top it off with a gorgeous church is simply staggering.
If you get the chance do visit.
