Easter in Brum

 

Dropped into Stratford on the way and walked the riverside which now has it’s own Stratford Eye.

On Saturday we took the short, frequent, metro from the local Chester Street station to New Street. Took a walk along the canal to Gas Street - they really have done a fine job with this.

Wonder who lives here??

Went on to visit the amazing Birmingham Library. Creative architecture both inside and out. A Cathedral to study – wish it had been like this when I was at Aston. Unbelievable to think there were no desk/lap tops then and now the building is bristling with tech. There are rooftop garden walks providing panorama views over the City.

Followed this up with a wander round the Museum and Art Gallery housing, amongst other things, the Staffordshire Hoard, Renaissance Art and a Coming Out exhibition including Grayson Perry's dress. 

Sunday we intended to revisit the Botanical Gardens but forgot the Great British Easter Egg Hunt! There were hundreds of mini Brummies stretching round the bloc and beyond. Carried on walking and eventually came to Winterbourne next to the Uni. What a find. Originally built for the Nettlefolds, a well known Birmingham industrial family, Now open to the public among it’s many uses is botanical research c/o the University of Birmingham. It also houses a rare exhibition of book illustrations.

Originally designed as a small country estate with rustic outbuildings and large gardens, Winterbourne followed the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. After a period of restoration, the garden was Grade II listed by English Heritage in 2008.

Fields of Gold

What a turn around in just a week :)

The first of the three villages daffodil festivals was a white-out. This week, at Oxenhall spring was out in all its glory. The woodlands shimmered in yellow green n gold and the daffodils and crowds were out in their hordes.

Also in this country pastiche were riders, Traveller carts (complete with solar panel) and the annual MG collectors gathering on the green in front of the ‘Poets Church’ at Dymock.

 

The daffs in the garden and the Forest were bent double under the weight of snow but these sturdy little gems recover quickly and were standing proud saluting the early spring sun.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By William Wordsworth 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.