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Winterbourne House & Garden

Thanks for the info Len. John Sutton Nettlefold married Joseph Chamberlain's sister. He worked with Chamberlain on the clearances of the slum back to backs to let in light and help to eradicate the unhealthy lifestyle.
 
- Last Friday I visited Winterbourne House in Edgbaston - was previously the home of Mr Nettlefold - of GKN fame. Tour of house (ground floor) relates to his family, life and work and the gardens are a lovely haven. This is a hidden gem in Birmingham. Easy to get to via public transport (63 bus - Bristol Road) then a few minutes walk, adequate parking for those who drive. Admisson for me - concession £3 - others £4.50. Nice tearoom/terrace, a lovely local day out - would recommend a visit. More detail easily found if you "google".
 
I've visited twice since Birmingham University opened it up. A truly splendid house - beautifully decorated and well appointed, featuring Arts and Crafts William Morris wallpaper and fabrics. The tea room and terrace is a particular delight, as is seeing the staff dressed in Edwardian costume. The gardens are of course lovely, and include an alpine and cacti house. A pathway which meanders through wooded thickets takes you to Edgbaston Pool, which is secluded and very beautiful.

Highly recommended!

Laurence
 
Opportunities to visit an arts & craft house in Birmingham are rare, but Winterbourne House is very special. For those who like jazz there is a Jazz by Candelight on Saturday 23rd July.
This thread deserves pictures, but I cannot find anything out of copyright. The website however provides a delightfull taster of the exterior & interior of the house.
 
I finally managed to visit Winterbourne House today and although the weather could have been better I still enjoyed looking round the house and garden.
At the moment they have a temporary exhibition focusing on the children of the Nettlefolds. Like many wealthy families of this time the Nettlefolds often went away for long holidays and left their children at home with the nanny and house staff. The exhibition contains letters written by the children to their parents and also diary entries made by their mother.
One diary entry tells of how she had returned home after one of their trips to find that her baby son had died whilst they were away!

The Nettlefolds also missed out on happy occasions. One letter on display is from their daughter Evie (Evlyn) thanking them for her nice birthday presents. She tells them she had a very happy birthday and the cook made her a lovely cake. She also tells them about the presents she received from other people including a (toy) cooking range from the Rylands - obviously I found that very interesting!

You can visit all this for free - you only pay if you want to walk round the garden.
I took a few photos - despite the rain - I will upload them now.
 
Two pictures of the garden - a lovely Rhododendron and the Rock garden - with a very algae covered pond/stream in the background.

2_rhododendron.JPG3_rock_garden.JPG
 
This is the back of the house. The cafe has a door onto the terrace so you can sit outside (weather permitting) and enjoy the view of the garden.
The cafe got really busy at 1pm - I think a lot of people who work nearby come in and use it in their lunch break. It went much quieter at 2pm.

1_back_of_house.JPG
 
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The greenhouse had a very clever winding system for opening all the windows quickly.
It had WRIGHT AND HOLMES BIRMINGHAM stamped on it.

4_greenhouse.JPG
 
For anyone wondering what the connection is between the Nettlefolds and the Rylands:

John Sutton Nettlefold b.1792 married Martha Chamberlain b. 1794
Martha Chamberlain was the sister of Joseph Chamberlain b.1796.
Joseph married Caroline Harbern and they had 9 children the eldest being Joseph b.1836 and the youngest Clara b.1851.
Clara married Frederick Ryland in 1885
 
glynis it does get confusing because of the way names were passed down and also because of the way they married into the same families - but It was John Sutton Nettlefold born 1866 (the grandson of the John Sutton Nettleford b.1792) that married Margaret Chamberlain in 1891.

It was John Sutton Nettleford b.1866 and his wife Margaret that lived at Winterbourne but I referred to his grandfather to explain the relationship between the Nettlefords and the Rylands.
 
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A lovely and interesting thread polly. How sad to loose a child while away from home. I suppose that is how life was for the wealthy in those days. Trips were such a long time with the only transport being ships. I wish I was as lucky as you with such a fascinating family history. Names of such notoriety!!

I must visit Winterbourne now!
 
Wendy, I said I was going to visit two years ago and I have only just got there! The exhibition on the children ends on the 29th April.
Although the garden is pretty at the moment I would imagine in the summer it is really beautiful.

According to the information on display it seems it was very common for wealthy people to go travelling not long after the birth of a baby. Perhaps it was because the woman had been confined to the house during pregnancy - I am not sure.

I must admit it is quite nice to feel I have a connection with some of these families through the Rylands - although with the Nettlefords and the Chamberlains it is rather distant. (anyway - I seem to remember your tree is rather interesting too!)
 
Just a update on Winterbourne Gardens,the whole of the upstairs of the house is now open,I've just come back from another visit and seen the first of the Snowdrops and there's some beautiful Orchids in flower in the Orchid house.
 
For anyone planning to visit please be aware that it is no longer free admission to the house and Cafe. Previously you only paid to visit the garden (£3), now there is a minimum charge of £4.50 for the house and garden which also gives you access to the cafe.
It seems the main reason for the change to the admission pricing is to stop too many people using the cafe.
https://www.winterbourne.org.uk/latest-news
 
What a sensible solution !! Probably will drive many people away who would have paid £3, and deprived cafe of so much business that they will have to close.
 
I did'nt notice any new pricing structure today..I've been going on numerous occasions over the last two years and the price I've been paying is £4-50 and it was the same today..Its a really beautiful place to visit,a little oasis.
 
On Monday the 7th of November, Mikejee, Astoness and myself plan to visit Winterbourne House & Gardens. I think from the details set out above it should be a most enjoyable place to visit.

If anybody else would care accompany us then you are quite welcome to, I think all the information you might require is set out here,

https://www.winterbourne.org.uk/

We haven't fixed a time yet, but will do that in the forthcoming week. Hope to see you there.
 
Just a reminder, in case anybody was thinking of joining us tomorrow, we should be arriving at the house around 12 - 12.30 midday.
 
I visit Winterbourne at least a couple of times a year, and was there about ten days ago. It is absolutely beautiful. I took some friends from Essex a couple of years ago, and they were knocked out by it. A 'must' is to open that little gate and walk down to the lake (not actually part of Winterbourne). I call it Birmingham's best kept secret.
The house is interesting, too, and sitting on that lovely terrace with some coffee and a slice of cake is a great experience.
 
Enjoy today - and a slice of cake! Wish I could join you. Maybe another time. Viv.
 
I have just restored some missing pictures to my earlier posts that I noticed were gone.
 
Many thanks Terry. So many photos have been lost, so it's good to see some being re-posted. If anyone has those originally posted by Dek Carr in their files (posts #13 - 16), would be great to see those too. Viv.
 
Here is a picture of the lake, which I took in June. Only one building is visible, though not in this picture. It is difficult to believe that New Street station is just a couple of miles away.

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