A weekend in Brum!

Last weekend I had a wee jaunt to visit a friend in Birmingham and it was a wonderfully chilled out time which the both of us very much needed. The prime reason for us organising the visit on this particular weekend was that the Travel Destinations Show was taking place at Brimingham NEC. As a Wanderlust subscriber I was entitled to complimentary tickets (and the staff at Wanderlust kindly sent a second set out when I realised I’d mistakenly recycled the set that had come with the last issue of the magazine! Kudos to them) otherwise it would have been £10 at the door. Melanie & I backpacked in China together nearly 5 years ago (where has the time gone?), and although we’re not planning any big trips in the near future, it’s always fun to dream.

In the event we were rather underwhelmed by the whole thing which was rather disappointing. There weren’t a huge amount of exhibitors, and the majority of them seemed to be aimed at the high-end of the market. We enjoyed getting a good look at the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year entries and Melanie enjoyed a tasting at a champagne bar (I don’t ‘get’ fizzy wine) but we didn’t manage to get in to the one talk I had been looking forward to – an interview with Simon Reeve (from BBC’s Equator, Tropic of Capricorn and the forthcoming Tropic of Cancer programmes). It would have been far better if you could have pre-booked the speaker events. There just didn’t seem to be much to do or to interact with in the whole event. There were a few different dance acts performing various styles of dance from around the world but one look at the belly of one particular belly-dancer was enough to put us off lingering anywhere near the performance area. Somehow we managed to kill nearly 2 hours - we’re not quite sure how but a good half-hour of that was taken up with the walk to and from the train station car-park as roadworks prevented us from getting into the main NEC car-park. Overall we were glad that we hadn’t paid a tenner each but left rather uninspired. Ah well it was a wee outing.

What did make the weekend was an afternoon in the Cotswolds. About an hour’s drive south of Birmingham lies the town of Broadway which is absolutely delightful and as soon as you drive in you get the sense that there’s a different pace of life even if it’s all a bit highbrow and quilted jackets seem to be the coat of choice. We lunched at Broadway Brasserie for some very tasty Thai fishcakes then had a saunter around the village and into some of the shops. Those who know me know my hatred of the great evil that is shopping (!) but when a furniture shop has low beams, winding staircases and all sorts of wee nooks and crannies then it’s hard to refuse a wee nosey and the interior is nearly more interesting than the wares. I got a little snappy happy because I loved the front doors of the houses in Broadway and it was all so picturesque plus it was a lovely crisp sunny day.

The rest of our weekend consisted pretty much of eating and/or lounging on the sofa…bliss! On Friday night we watched Revolutionary Road over a takeaway curry – an absolutely woeful film, avoid if at all possible unless you particularly want to be rendered depressed, it’s only success is that does a pretty darn good job of depicting the emptiness of keeping up with the Jones’s in ‘50s suburban America. (Why on earth did it get Oscar nominations?!) We had to watch a few episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks to remind ourselves that life has its funny moments! Thankfully on Saturday night we had the good sense to head out to a pub restaurant for a hearty meal with one of Melanie’s friends and sat in front of an open fire. Apparently the Bell of Belbroughton has been on the map since 1577 and made for a very pleasant place to spend a cold evening!

All in all a great weekend, and even better I’m off tomorrow for another wee jaunt, this time to Cork!

Broadway - A rural idyll

...with gorgeous homes!