Back to the Midlands

In her post for Sept 25 1908, Edith says:

"Goodbye to Scotland and back to the Midlands".

Birmingham International Airport - 23rd September 2015.

On the 22nd and 23rd of September 2015 I stayed at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn. This time I was lucky and got a room in the "Executive" area, with a good view over the runway.  There would have been plenty of people coming back to the Midlands from all over the world including Scotland and I saw some of their aircraft touch down.

Birmingham Airport - 22nd September 2015.

In this night shot a row of conifers - just right of centre. is picked out by the lights - in daytime they were often visited by Goldfinches.

Control Tower.

One sure sign that autumn is well on its way is the start of the football season. On my way to the lift, a manager swept by with a tray of breakfasts. On the way down I met a group of young footballers, who play for West Bromwich Albion. They were looking rather lost - but fortunately I was able to send them after their food and went on my way. While waiting for the bus in the hotel car park, I noticed a number of very pretty sports cars and wondered if they belonged to the footballers.

Great-Crested Grebes - 2015

I'm not so sporty but I did enjoy taking part in the company's "Walk round the world", in which groups from each office took a walk at lunchtime. From the Birmingham office, we visited Pendigo Lake at the NEC. While we were there, I spotted a Great-Crested Grebe feeding a youngster.

In her next post, for September the 30th, Edith mentioned signs of Autumn ...

"Some of the Beech Trees are quite bare ... Weather still continues perfect. Hot sun during the day, cold and clear at night, mist in the mornings".

My photos from the same time last year show that Birmingham was basking in sunshine. This year, after a late heatwave, there were thunderstorms.

Bolete fungi - 15 September 2015

109 years later, I started spotting some hints of Autumn at about the same date. Under some confers, at Trinity Park I found some Bolete fungi.

Owls and the Edwardian Country Lady

As far as I know Edith only mentions owls once in her 1908 diary. Her June 8 entry says ...

I saw an Owl tonight, flying across the gardens at the back of the St. Bernard's Road. This is the first I have seen at Olton.

I didn't see any live owls while at Birmingham but there were some, painted by school children, at Birmingham Airport.  I photographed these at the end of August, 2015.

 

The Birmingham Mail says that these are just a few of the 120 "Owlets" painted by school children and displayed round the city.

 

These owlets were part "Big Hoot" in which larger owls were also displayed in various locations. They have now been sold but the Birmingham Mail has tracked some of them down.

The Nights Watch.



The board by the Nights Watch owl by Tudor Grange Academy, Solihull, said:

"The Nights Watch owlet features a montage of designs created by students at the academy. It reflects the work of Van Gogh and Mondrian and incorporates surrealism, with a night-time theme reflecting the owls' nocturnal activity. The cogs and mechanical aspects represent Birmingham's historical and industrial links, with the feather element taking it back to nature."

During Van Gogh's lifetime, he was considered a failure. He died in 1890. Wikipedia tells us

"In Paris in 1901 a large Van Gogh retrospective was held at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery", which inspired the Fauves and that "Van Gogh's fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I"

In 1908 Mondrian, like Edith, was creating art firmly rooted in Nature. Later, he moved into abstract and cubism.

 

I love the way the children's work had been displayed where everyone can see it and I think Edith, who was a teacher, would have appreciated it too.

Elmdon Park - Walled Park Nature Reserve

As I am no longer working in Birmingham, I will plunder last year's photos to continue my journal.

St Nicholas - 28 July 2015

In 1908 Edith mentioned three visits to Elmdon Park in May, June and October. 109 years later, I visited Elmdon too. After work, I checked into the Holiday Inn, dumped my luggage and walked briskly through the Nature Park that I visited in June this year and past St Nicholas.  According to William Dargue's page on Elmdon, the church that I saw was built in 1781, replacing the dilapidated one that previously stood on the site. It was rebuilt by Abraham Spooner, the owner of the long since demolished Elmdon Hall.

Old walls - 28 July 2015

My aim was to visit Elmdon Hall's old walled garden, which forms part of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's Elmdon Manor nature reserve. Dargue's page on Elmdon tells us that "Measuring a hectare in area, the walled garden was reputedly in its day the largest in the country. Some of the walls and the ruins of greenhouses survive." Just before I reached the wall, there was a tangle of wild plants including delicious wild raspberries.



Ferns and mosses on brickwork - 28 July 2015 

Yellow loosestrife - 28 July 2016

In Edith's time, it's likely that the garden would have been immaculately kept and extremely productive. As I followed the footsteps of long-dead gardeners, I found ferns growing out of the steps and a mixture of wild and garden plants spilling over the paths.

Apples - 28 July 2015

Someone has clearly been hard at work here. There are fairly young fruit trees to remind us of the garden's former purpose, which was to produce fruit and vegetables for the big house. 

Campanula - 28 July 2015

According to the SEAG community blog:

The head and under gardeners had cottages close by at Elmdon Farm with as many as 20 men and boys working in the kitchen and pleasure gardens. The walled garden was intersected by wide grass paths with neat box hedges, and after the removal of the glass tax in 1845, extensive greenhouses and cold frames. Around the walls espalier and fan shaped apple trees with the more tender fruits such as nectarines and apricots occupying the south facing walls.

Sadly many of the gardeners who would have been tending the gardens in 1908 are likely to have left Elmdon for the First World War. Also the house changed hands a number of times and went into decline. Now long grass and wildflowers catch the low evening sun and provide a feast for insects and other wildlife.

Airport buildings seen over crops - 28 July 2015

Having explored the garden, I looked round the rest of the nature reserve. There is a lake and trees including old Yews.  Intrigued by glimpses of gold, I peered out from between the trees. I was greeted by the rather surreal sight of airport buildings and hotels beyond ripening crops. The golden evening sun had been replaced by sulky clouds.

Holiday Inn Hotel with rainbow - 28 July 2015

As I walked back to the hotel, the inevitable drizzle started. As I got back to the hotel, the sun came out again and I captured a rainbow.

Your flight is delayed until 1909

This week I've been staying at the Holiday Inn hotel near Birmingham International airport. The airport is at Elmdon, which was one of the places where Edith used to walk and make her observations for her Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

The Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn.

In September 1909, just 3 years after Edith wrote her famous diary, Alfred P Maxfield flew the first aeroplane in the Birmingham area. The History of Castle Bromwich for Young People site has a photo of this plane and explains the history of the aerodrome that was to develop there. It tells us about:

• the early, hair-raising, fun days of flight
• the serious business of WWI when the aerodrome developed to accommodate war planes and trainee pilots
• the development of commercial flights in the early thirties
• the move of non-military flights to Elmdon (now Birmingham International) airport just a few years later.

The old terminal - now used as offices.

The photo shows the original, 1939, terminal. It looks a little forlorn now as the passengers now leave from the big, new terminals on the North side of the airport. Here's a video from the glory days.

Britsh Pathé news - The opening of the airport in 1939 (advert at start)

The visitors to the hotel are a friendly bunch. On the shuttle bus (to the station/airport) and in the restaurant, there was much talk about the new Emirates Airbus A380. The Birmingham Mail tells us that it is starting regular trips to Dubai from today, Easter Sunday, 2016.

I could tell you about this huge plane but far better to watch @DMTaylor90's amazing video of it coming into Birmingham.

@DMTaylor90's video of the New Emirates Airbus coming into Birmingham.

A footnote ...
On 3rd February 2017, the Holiday Inn Birmingham published a post that said
"Originally built as the Headquarters for the RAF, the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport is celebrating it's 80th year."

https://www.facebook.com/HIBhamairhotel/photos/a.1539738669598377.1073741836.1517099785195599/1829746453930929/?type=3&theater

Stumbling across Edwardian Lady Country

Depending upon how old you are, you might remember the late 1970s publishing sensation, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.  Edith Holden wrote the diary, illustrated with charming watercolours, over the course of 1906. When it was published 70 years later the tremendously popular book inspired designs for household furnishings, a TV programme and so much more.  In fact, we still have the book and one of these covers in our Sussex home.

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

Since March 2015, I have been working and staying in hotels near Birmingham International Airport and the NEC. The last thing I expected was that this would reunite me with a favourite book from my teenage years.

Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport

In the summer, while I was staying at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn, I discovered Elmdon Park, which is just the other side of the duel carriageway. The park is next to the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Elmdon Manor nature reserve. This contains a lovely old walled garden, which reminded me strongly of the one in the Secret Garden novel.

An intriguing walled garden in the Elmdon Manor nature reserve.

Intrigued, I did a little Googling and found a reference to Edith Holden walking in Elmdon Park and the surroundings. I could hardly wait to get home and dust off our old copy and find out more. Sure enough, she mentions Elmdon Park a handful of times. In her entry for the 18th of January 1906 she says "Today I saw a curious Oak tree, growing in a field near Elmdon Park. From a distance it looked if half of the tree were dead and the other half covered with glossy green leaves." It feels strange to read these words almost 110 years to the day after she wrote them especially as I have looked over those fields. They may have aircraft flying over them but they still grow crops, just as they did in Edith's time.

When writing her 1906 diary, Edith was a school teacher who lived in Olton. She would often walk or cycle from her home, recording what she saw. Over the course of 2016 I hope make some posts inspired by what I read in her diary and what I find while exploring Birmingham and its outskirts.