The Wombourne Wives Summer Outing this year on 22nd June was to Winterbourne House and Gardens in Edgbaston. The weather held out for our day. The house was the former home of John Nettleton one of the original owners of GKN engineering. It was built in 1903 and was owned by the family until 1944 when John died and left the house and garden to the University of Birmingham. It is now a listed building and visitors have been welcomed to visit since the refurbishment in 2010.
The 7 acres of gardens were enjoyed by us all with each of us having our own particular favourite area be it the Japanese Bridge; the cacti garden with its amazing varieties, the Nut Walk: the Walled Garden or the woodland Walk. (We’d need another visit to view all 700 acres). The Old Print House was a real blast to the past. It was a pity it wasn’t working for our visit but we can’t have everything!!
The house interior was warm and welcoming and of course the tea room was a very welcome sight for us all! Our visit was completed by our wonderful buffet lunch in The Old Potting Shed complete with gardening implements decorating the walls.
Our new programme for 2017/2018 begins on September 14th
A Welcome Back Cheese and Wine Evening. New members and visitors are always welcome to our meetings which are held every 2nd and 4th Thursday in each month at 8pm.
September 28th ‘Facts and Fiction – Novelist Michael Taylor/Nancy Carson talking about his novels
October 12th ‘Classroom in the Clouds’. Sally Sixsmith talks about her adventure teaching in schools in Nepal