This place is really different! They offer a great space for parties, weddings, business events all…read moreinside a wonderfully restored former hosiery factory. It has wooden beams, oak floors and even a trapdoor. It is family run and the food is as fresh as it gets. The bar has a great selection of drinks at very reasonable prices (no silly hotel prices here!) and the family who run it are helpful and really know how to host a great event. You will not be disappointed.

I first heard about The Space in May of 2014 and knew that it would be a very cool venue for an…read moreevent. Looking around at the places in the city, I wanted to have a Launch event for #BrumHour at a creative and fresh venue. The owner, Chandeep has been a great champion of BrumHour, so it felt right that the venue would be the best host. I went down to The Space for the first time at the start of August 2014 and the three rooms vary a lot in size. However, they are all painted a brilliant white with high ceilings and huge windows to let a lot of natural light in. The main room is the carter room and can host around 50 people. When I came to host my event at the start of February 2015, I had 30 people and 5 tables with creative businesses from around Birmingham to share their project work on them. Chandeep was very clear about pricing, and timescales and this gave me a huge confidence boost that everything would run pretty smoothly. I hired the venue for 4 hours and used it for a 2 hour event including setup and going live. It can be used as a dance and drama rehearsal space, a creative gallery, a small theatre room or even a board room! Check out the website for more photos.

Amazing service. You know a great business when all the tiny details, from initial enquiry all the…read moreway through to completion are perfect. I am a really fussy bu**** and like things just so. I like businesses that go the extra mile. I like people who anticipate what will make my life easier. The Space scored massively on all these counts. So, we needed a small meeting room away from our busy office to strategize and plan. All our usual meeting options where full, other venues either couldn't be bothered responding or were to pricey or not quite right. Normally a local coffee shop or similar could fit the bill, but not for this kind of meeting. I knew of The Space through Twitter, as another Jewellery Quarter business, so I dropped them a line. I quick response confirmed everything I needed to know and prices where very competitive. Booking was super easy. We all arrived to be greeted by the helpful and friendly owner (I think) and shown around. Our room was perfect. Tea and coffee and biscuits provided, self serve. The tea mugs were neatly arranged, the tea spoons were ready in clean water, water jug and glasses all arranged on the table, the heater was on, the chairs and tables just right. What this attention to details means is that we could simply relax and focus on the business of the day. It was a great meeting and the venue and service received went at least some way towards allowing that to happen. Worth noting that although The Space is kinda in the middle of an industrial estate it's also very close to the bus routes on Great Hampton St, the JQ station and maybe 5-6 minutes walk from Snow Hill. You can also grab a nice lunch at the equally excellent The Lord Clifden if you need to, tho the venue does do meeting catering upon request. Highly recommended all 'round!

Lots to see and do at this 15-acre botanical garden: a koi pond, aviary, butterfly house, bonsai…read morecollection, glasshouses, and many trails winding through various gardens. I was also witnessed a poor wild peacock being chased by children across the Main Lawn. Tickets are low-priced at £7.50 per adult. A 15 to 20 minute bus ride from the main city stops right by the garden. We didn't explore every nook and cranny, but covered the highlights in the hour that we stayed.

The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a medium-sized and well-maintained gardens a bit outside the…read morecity center. They have pleasant fields for strolling, a small area with some bird houses for your bird-watching enjoyment, plus some indoor greenhouses with plants from different climates. It's not that large, but you could enjoy an hour or two here. Come when the weather is nice to enjoy some greenery.

Of all the municipal golf courses in Birmingham this is probably my least favourite. I find it a…read morelittle dull and flat and quite repetitive. However, there is one particular reason that you probably should play there: Planes! This course is located just off the Coventry Road, and when you say Coventry Road to Brummies, they don't think of Coventry: They think Airport. The massive expanse of Birmingham International Airport is literally next door to this golf course so you are playing to the occasional sound of large, commercial aircraft taking off and landing. It does make for a few surreal moments around the course as you line up a shot. Professional players are almost never disturbed as they prepare their next move, but hapless amateurs such as me are often on this course given to pause before they hack their next shot into the long grass and swear loudly. Out of the corner of your eye, just as you prepare to swing, you will often be as close to a landing jumbo jet as you will ever be. You can sometimes even see the passengers laughing at you.

This one is right next to Birmingham airport, so perhaps you've got a few hours to kill between…read moreflights, or want to make a day of your first holiday day, who knows, but this one's just round the corner. For those bandits amongst you, you'll be pleased to hear that this one requires a good drive off the tee, with some real wide open fairways, which are quite scenic actually. Great clubhoouse! Oh yes, also, i suppose worth mentioning is the practice area on grass which this site has, which is quite unusual and useful beofre a game perhaps.

Wonderful building with so much to offer to anyone who walks in! Cafe that is open every day…read moreserving hot and cold food and drinks, bar open every day of the week for the dads, enclosed playground for children and huge ground for older kids to play football and enjoy being outside! Add that to the main hall where you can book anything from a 1st Birthday party to a full Weeding Ceremony and Reception Party and this place has everything!!

Great cafe currently open every day except Thursday. Home made cakes, sandwiches and soup, with…read morecooked breakfasts at the weekend. Friendly.

Harborne Hall is housed at the back of St Peter's infant school and has had many guises over the…read moreyears. Built at the latter part of the eighteenth century it was once home to William Chamberlain who housed his small private zoo in the grounds. In latter years it has been a military hospital, a convent, a training and conference centre for the development charity VSO (in fact I used to work here as a librarian - the library was housed in the old chapel and we sometimes had visits from Nuns who wanted to see whether it had changed much since they'd left - the answer inevitably was 'not really') and following a fire nearby has been used as a temporary base for children from Harborne Primary School. It is now being re-launched as a hotel with the aim to offer affordable accommodation in Harborne as well as (and perhaps inspired by Highbury Hall in Kings Heath which is designed in a similar style) a venue for weddings.