The timber facade
Close-studded timbering from 1590 with herringbone panels and a jettied upper floor, the best thing here and visible from the free garden.
A black-and-white timber house more than four centuries old, hemmed in on every side by ordinary twentieth-century suburban streets: that is the small shock of arriving at Blakesley Hall in Yardley, on the east side of Birmingham. It was built in 1590 for Richard Smalbroke, a merchant from a prosperous local family, and is one of the oldest buildings still standing in a city better known for factories than for history. The close-studded timbering, herringbone panels and jettied upper floor make the facade worth the trip on its own; a brick kitchen block was bolted on around 1650. Inside, the rooms are furnished as the household looked in 1684, working from a real inventory drawn up that year, which is why it feels more lived-in than most grand English houses: a great hall with its fireplace, a great parlour and the brick kitchen downstairs, and upstairs the painted chamber, whose original 1590 wall decoration was uncovered from under later layers by the wartime bomb damage, plus a long gallery that is rare in a house of this size. The ground floor is mostly on one level with a small ramp to the kitchen; the upper floor is reached only by a wooden stair, as there is no lift and the building cannot take one. It has been a museum since 1935, was hit by a bomb in November 1941 and reopened in 1957 after a long restoration. Keep expectations in proportion. A full visit is an hour to ninety minutes including the herb garden and orchard, which are free and make a decent picnic spot with children, since there is no cafe on site. The hall opens Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 to 16:00 with last entry at 15:00, closes completely for winter from early November to mid-February, and shuts on bank holidays. Adults pay 8 pounds, children 5, a family of four 20, and a pre-booked timed ticket is sensible in the summer school holidays and at weekends. Getting there is easy by car with a free car park, by the 97 bus from the city centre, or by train to Stechford and a twenty-minute walk. If your Birmingham days are few, skipping it costs you little; for a family spending weeks in the Midlands and wanting a quiet half-day away from the shopping centres, it is a good call.
Close-studded timbering from 1590 with herringbone panels and a jettied upper floor, the best thing here and visible from the free garden.
Original 1590 wall decoration exposed by the 1941 bomb damage, with the rest of the rooms furnished from a real family inventory of 1684.
Free without a ticket, with a picnic area that suits children, though there is no cafe on site.
Blakesley Road, Yardley, Birmingham B25 8RN
Not on a short stay; the visit is an hour, perhaps ninety minutes, and the upper floor is reached only by stairs. For a family spending weeks in the region and wanting a quiet half-day away from the shopping centres, with free parking and a garden for a picnic, it works well, especially on the family event days the museum runs in school holidays.