We organise several visits each year to various places, some National Trust properties, others not. Our first post-lockdown visit to Attingham Park (left) was particularly popular. We were able to raise about £1500 to help the National Trust's activities.​
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The cost of the visit includes coach transport. The pick up points are either the Bentley Heath Community Hall in Widney Lane, Dorridge or Solihull Railway Station. Parking is available in the multi-storey car park (fee payable).
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Admission to non-National Trust properties is included in the cost, but please note that if you are not a National Trust member, you will have to pay the entry fee for Trust properties on arrival.
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Bookings for our visits are reviewed about 4 weeks before the departure date, at which point, the visit will be cancelled if numbers have not reached a certain minimum. So please try to make your booking before then – a date has been listed for each visit. We do appreciate that for some, it may be difficult to do this, so please do not worry, as we usually can accommodate a few late bookings.
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Our coach operators do have at least one wheelchair-accessible coach. If you would like to come on one of our trips and need to travel in a wheelchair, please contact us as soon as possible and we will see if can reserve it.
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Where a visit includes a meal, please advise us of any dietary requirements you may have when you book.
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We are now accepting payment by bank transfer. For the details please see the Members Only page.
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If you are interested in joining one of our trips, or have a general enquiry about them, please send us a message using this contact form.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Biddulph Grange Gardens and Little Moreton Hall
(both NT)​
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The gardens at Biddulph Grange were developed in the 19th Century by James Bateman. They are divided into many different themed areas, such as the Chinese garden and the Italian Garden. As a result, there is always something of interest throughout the year, but the azaleas and/or rhododendrons should be at their best at the time of our visit. Please be aware that the gardens have many steps and slopes.
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After lunch, we will leave for nearby Little Moreton Hall. It was named for the Moreton family who built it and lived there from Tudor times until they transferred it to the National Trust in 1938 and so has never been sold. It is a very fine moated half-timbered manor house built in stages during the 16th Century to a highly irregular pattern, and with decidedly uneven levels, probably due to the later addition of the third storey. To build in the half-timbered style was already quite old-fashioned when the hall was started.
The coach will leave Bentley Heath at 08.00 and Solihull at 08.10 and we hope to be back in Solihull by about 18.30.
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Cost: £37.50
Please try to book by 2 April
Tuesday, 20 May,2025
Tyntesfield (NT)
Tyntesfield is at heart a Victorian country house and estate lived in by four generations of the Gibbs family. William Gibbs made a huge fortune in the ‘guano’ fertiliser trade from Peru and in 1844 he bought the original late-Georgian house which he transformed it into a Gothic Revival masterpiece. The gardens have flower filled terraces and a productive kitchen garden.
The walk from the Welcome Building to the house takes about 10-15 minutes. On our arrival there is the opportunity for members of our group to receive a free talk from one of the Estate Guides. For those wishing to join the talk the Guide will lead a walk down to the outside of the house, as a whole group, which lasts around 20 minutes. Please state on your booking form if you would be interested in joining this.
The estate is built into the side of a hill so walking to and from the house involves some slopes that can be steep and uneven in places. Three mobility Tramper scooters are available free of charge but will need to be booked in advance and there are also manual wheelchairs to borrow. There is no lift in the house.
The coach will leave Bentley Heath at 08.10 and Solihull Station at 08.20 and we hope to be back in Solihull by about 18.45.
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Cost: £35
Please try to book by 22 April
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Tuesday 24 June - Talks Programme Visit
Towcester & Canons Ashby (NT)
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We will visit Northamptonshire, starting in Towcester, a prosperous market town with Roman origins, located on Watling Street. In the heyday of the stagecoaches, it was a major stopping place between London and Holyhead and, in his ‘Pickwick Papers’, Charles Dickens writes that Mr Pickwick stayed there. Today, many of the old coaching inns remain, together with the 13th century St Lawrence Church, the Chantry House and Towcester Mill, a water mill first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Towcester Museum traces the town’s long history.
After lunch, we drive to nearby Canon’s Ashby, described by the National Trust as “ancient and peaceful, far removed from today’s bustling lifestyle”. Since it was built by the Dryden family in Elizabethan times, the house has been altered and added to, but is little changed since the 19th century. It is set in a terraced garden which combines formality with prettiness.
We shall depart Bentley Heath Community Centre at 9.00 am and Solihull Railway Station
at 9.15 am, and expect to arrive back around 6.00 pm. Numbers are limited to 35.
Cost: £34
Members can find the booking form for this visit ONLY on the Members' Page.
Wednesday, 2 July
Montacute House (NT)
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Montacute House is a masterpiece of Elizabethan Renaissance architecture and design with towering walls of glass, glowing ham stone and surrounding gardens intended to be a symbol of power and wealth. Only the ground floor is available to be visited due to urgent work needing to be done to the two stone staircases but there is still much to be seen. Completed in 1601 the architecture is rooted in Gothic, with Flemish and Renaissance influences. It was built on a grand scale with turrets, obelisks, shell niches, pavilions and walls of glass and on the east front stand the Nine Worthies, statues of biblical, classical and medieval figures including Julius Caesar and King Arthur. In 1787 the house had a facelift adding the façade of another local 16th century house, Clifton House, to the West Front.
We will be met on arrival with an introductory talk and issued with timed entry tickets to the house. Elizabethan Welcome walk and talks are being run outside and last approx. 40-45 mins which take place at 1.30. There is a café and shop on site.
The coach will leave Bentley Heath at 07.45 and Solihull Station at 07.55 and we hope to be back in Solihull by 20.00.
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Cost: £40
Please try to book by 4 June
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Tuesday, 12 August
Sandham Memorial Chapel and The Vyne (both NT)
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Sandham Memorial Chapel was built in the 1920s to accommodate a remarkable series of large scale paintings by the artist Stanley Spencer, depicting Spencer’s everyday experiences as a medical orderly and soldier in the First World War. We will have a guided talk giving some background on Spencer and exploring the paintings. There is also time to visit a small exhibition, the garden of reflection and the historic orchard.
We leave Sandham at about 12.15 for the 35 minute journey to The Vyne. Only two families have owned The Vyne through history. The Sandys family became owners of The Vyne in the late 14th century and in the early 16th century William Sandys, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VIII, transformed it into a Tudor palace. In the mid 17th century Chaloner Chute, who was to become Speaker in Richard Cromwell’s parliament, acquired The Vyne and reduced the size of the house by about two thirds. The Chute family remained owners of The Vyne until it was passed to the National Trust. There is plenty to explore in the grounds with lakes, walled garden and a formal garden with a summerhouse dating back to 1635. Jane Austen had links to the Chute family and 2025 is 250 years since her birth. There will be a ‘Regency Revisited’ exhibition to learn more about her, the Austen family and life in the Regency period.
The coach will leave Bentley Heath at 08.10 and Solihull Station at 08.20 and we hope to be back in Solihull by about 19.00.
N.B. Numbers are limited to 40 due to the small size of Sandham Memorial Chapel.
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Cost: £40
Please try to book by 15 July
Wednesday, 17 September
Wentworth Woodhouse
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Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the finest and grandest Georgian houses in England. The current house was built for the 1st Marquess of Rockingham from 1725 with the work on the house and grounds continuing for over four decades. It then passed to the Fitzwilliam family. The house is now owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, who are gradually restoring it to its former glory. Our visit will include a fascinating guided tour which encompasses the rise and fall of the house from its beginnings in the 1600s to its time as a family home and teacher training college right through to the present day.
The coach will leave Bentley Heath at 08.15 and Solihull Station 08.25 and we hope to back by about 19.00
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Cost: £47 (NT Members)/£50 (Non-NT Members)
Please try to book by 20 August