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.
Below are the visits we've got planned so far for this year. We're planning more, so check back with us regularly to find out where we're going.
The cost of the visit includes coach transport. The pick up points are either the Bentley Heath Community Hall in Widney Lane, Dorridge or the bus stop outside the public house on the corner of Union Road/Warwick Road, Solihull, opposite House of Fraser.
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.
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.
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.
Where a visit includes a meal, please advise us of any dietary requirements you may have when you book.
We are now accepting payment by bank transfer. For the details please see the Members Only page.
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 17
Quarry Bank
It is about 10 years since we last visited Quarry Bank and since then, the Quarry Bank Project has delivered a host of developments for us to catch up on, the biggest single one being the opening of Quarry Bank House, the home of the Gregg family who owned the mill. It is now possible to explore the complete industrial heritage site.
Quarry Bank Mill has been described as “the most complete and least altered factory colony of the Industrial Revolution.” As well as the mill, originally built in 1784 by Samuel Greg, with its working machinery, and the house where the Greg family lived, there are, for example, the apprentice house where the child labourers lived, and Styal Village which was built specially for the workers in the 1820s. There are also picturesque gardens and 400 acres of estate to enjoy.
Cost £33
Please try to book by 20 March
Wednesday 15 May
RHS Garden Bridgewater
Once the site of one of the region’s most magnificent Victorian mansions, and visited by Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, Worsley New Hall, near Manchester, survived a fire and two World Wars before it was demolished in the 1940s. It was built by the 1st Earl of Ellesmere and in its heyday the 154 acre former grounds had a series of formal terraces going down to the lake. RHS Garden Bridgewater was made possible by an investment of £19 million by Salford City Council to develop the site and bring economic and tourism benefits to the city. Its development from 2016 until opening in May 2021 was the biggest project of its type in Europe. It is the RHS’s fifth national garden and its centrepiece is the 11 acre Weston Walled Garden.
RHS members can also use their guest pass on this visit. Please make it clear on the booking form if you are an RHS member and if you intend bringing a guest. If you would like to join a private guided tour please add £5 to your booking fee and also £2.50 for a guidebook (usual price £6.00), if required.
Cost: £45 (RHS Members/guests £35)
Please try to book by 17 April
Thursday 11 July
Ham House (NT)
Built in 1610 and leased by William Murray from King Charles I in 1626, Ham House sits on the bank of the River Thames in Richmond. The interiors are the creation of William and later his daughter Elizabeth. Ham House survived the English Civil War and Parliamentary rule and Elizabeth and her second husband the affluent Duke of Lauderdale together transformed Ham into one of the grandest Stuart houses in England. Changing little after Elizabeth’s death, Ham House was home to her descendants within the Tollemache family for nearly 300 years. It is internationally recognised for its superb collection of paintings, furniture and textiles largely brought together 400 years ago.
Outside, the open and formal restored 17th century garden surrounds the house. It includes a productive kitchen garden, the maze-like ‘Wilderness’ complete with summerhouses and many beautiful spots perfect for a picnic. The historic Orangery café set in the kitchen garden serves light lunches and teas.
We have the option of a private garden history tour. If you would be interested in joining this please add £5 to your booking fee.
Cost: £33
Please try to book by 11 June
Wednesday 14 August
Wrest Park (EH)
There is so much to Wrest Park, in Bedfordshire, that it is almost impossible to do it justice in a couple of paragraphs. In use as an agricultural research institute after the Second World War, the estate came to English Heritage in 2006, who have been undertaking an extensive renovation programme ever since.
The Wrest Park Estate comprises a Grade I listed country house and extensive gardens, also Grade I listed. The present house was built in the 1830s, to a design heavily influenced by 18th Century French architecture, and boasts some of the earliest Rococo Revival interiors in England. We have the opportunity to visit the Wallpaper Rooms, which are not generally open to the public. If you wish to join this private guided tour, please add £3.00 per person to your payment, but please note that late bookings cannot be accepted for this tour, as numbers must be confirmed at least three weeks in advance.
The extensive formal gardens, with their statuary and garden buildings, form the bulk of Wrest Park’s 92 acres and date from the early 18th Century. They are among the finest examples of gardens of the period, so much so that Capability Brown, when brought in to soften the edges of the garden and remodel the park left them well alone.
Cost: £42 ((£27.00 for members of EH and affiliated bodies)
Please try to book by 17 July
Wednesday 4 September
Newstead Abbey
Steeped in over 800 years of history, Newstead Abbey is a monastic abbey from the late 12th Century and former home of romantic poet Lord Byron. We will have a private tour through Lord Byron’s apartments, the Victorian Kitchen and room displays, plus cloisters from the monastic period. The river Leen feeds the lakes, ponds and cascades that ornament its gardens, along with its wildlife of peacocks and swans. Also there are beautiful walled gardens to be explored.
There is a café and shop on site.
Cost: £42
Please try to book by 7 August
Wednesday 9 October
Hardwick Hall
More details coming soon!