Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens represent a rare example of a 17th century Jacobean country house, complete with its original garden setting and parkland. Situated only five miles from Birmingham City centre, the hall is now in private ownership, but 40 acres of historic garden and the parkland are managed by Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens Trust. The site contains a mosaic of habitats including formal gardens, orchards, woodland, wetlands and grasslands making it ideal for all year round foraging!

Our Foraging Courses begin with a short introduction to Wild Food UK, what to expect from your day and a brief summary of the general countryside codes, including our Foraging Code.

Heading off at a leisurely pace, your instructor will teach you how to safely identify the different species of edible and poisonous plants and mushrooms that you discover. This exploration will take about 2.5hrs, during which we’ll take a break for a homemade refreshment, such as our Hogweed & Wild Garlic Soup or Elderflower Champagne!

Then it’s back to the meeting point for a tasty wild food meal. This will include a selection of foraged homemade treats created by your instructor, and a dish made with what we have collected during the walk.

All of our food is seasonal, so what you are served depends on what is growing at that time of year. In Spring we will be making use of the fresh wild greens and in Autumn, the array of tasty wild mushrooms that the area has to offer.

You will receive a comprehensive set of Wild Food UK ‘Course Notes’ a few days after your course. This email will contain links and articles relating to the plants and mushrooms we discovered or discussed during the day.

Dates

Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens has free parking, a courtyard cafe and toilet facilities. There is usually a charge to enter the gardens, but if you are attending a course with us we will cover the cost. 

Discover more about this Historical Landmark: Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens

N.B. Please be aware of the possibility that you will also cover Steep slopes, rough woodland on this course.

Tickets here

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Blossom season starts with blackthorn (sloes!), then beautiful pink fluffy cherry blossoms around the city, before moving on to the generous blossom of pear trees, then apples.  The highly scented Hawthorn (‘May’) and Elderflower follow later.

This Blossom Bash free event is a great way to start the season and brighten the experience for our eyes and nose…all welcome, just drop in.

Sunday 22 March 2026, 10:30am to 3:30pm

a day of family filled fun, fresh air and FREE activities.

The National Trust held an family picnic event in the grounds of The Charterhouse in Coventry to celebrate the start of the 2024 Blossom project. Picture by Shaun Fellows / Shine Pix Ltd

Activities include:

• Flower Crown making with Ildiko Nagy
• Scavenger Trails around the gardens and orchards
• Interactive storytelling with Pyn Stockman (11.30am and 1.30pm)
• Facepainting with Coloured Cheeks
• Blossom themed crafts
• Photos with our Blossom Queen.

We’ll also be showcasing the four winning designs from the National Trust Blossoming Spaces Competition which were submitted by primary and secondary children across East Birmingham.

Special Offers

The first 150 people to enter the event and share how they heard about the Blossom Bash will receive a token for a free hot or cold drink from the café.

Additional free  free travel: NT will be arranging coaches departing from, and returning to sites within Shard End, Heartlands, Bromford & Hodge Hill and Yardley & West Stechford. For more information about the coach, please email Birmingham-Blossom@nationaltrust.org.uk

More events

Look out for more blossom events at the Gardens across the season:

• Morris into May, Sunday 3rd May,
• ‘English Hanami’ blossom picnics, with Japanese food  Sunday10th May,
• Elderflower foraging and cordial making (tbc),

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Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens represent a rare example of a 17th century Jacobean country house, complete with its original garden setting and parkland. Situated only five miles from Birmingham City centre, the hall is now in private ownership, but 40 acres of historic garden and the parkland are managed by Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens Trust. The site contains a mosaic of habitats including formal gardens, orchards, woodland, wetlands and grasslands making it ideal for all year round foraging!

Our Foraging Courses begin with a short introduction to Wild Food UK, what to expect from your day and a brief summary of the general countryside codes, including our Foraging Code.

Heading off at a leisurely pace, your instructor will teach you how to safely identify the different species of edible and poisonous plants and mushrooms that you discover. This exploration will take about 2.5hrs, during which we’ll take a break for a homemade refreshment, such as our Hogweed & Wild Garlic Soup or Elderflower Champagne!

Then it’s back to the meeting point for a tasty wild food meal. This will include a selection of foraged homemade treats created by your instructor, and a dish made with what we have collected during the walk.

All of our food is seasonal, so what you are served depends on what is growing at that time of year. In Spring we will be making use of the fresh wild greens and in Autumn, the array of tasty wild mushrooms that the area has to offer.

You will receive a comprehensive set of Wild Food UK ‘Course Notes’ a few days after your course. This email will contain links and articles relating to the plants and mushrooms we discovered or discussed during the day.

Dates

Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens has free parking, a courtyard cafe and toilet facilities. There is usually a charge to enter the gardens, but if you are attending a course with us we will cover the cost. 

Discover more about this Historical Landmark: Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens

N.B. Please be aware of the possibility that you will also cover Steep slopes, rough woodland on this course.

Tickets here

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There comes a time, however, when we must say a very sad goodbye to these old giants. This week our trusted tree surgeon contractor, Chris, spent three days suspended high in the air on a crane platform slowly, bit by bit chopping the Melon Ground Chestnut tree down to a height just above the level of the walls.

Those of you who have sat and captured the sunshine in the Melon Ground or relaxed on a summer’s evening listening to live music during the Melon Ground Sessions, will have benefitted and marvelled at the magnificent horse chestnut leaning in over the walls.

By its girth, we think the tree is about 100 years old. We don’t know, but we think it is unlikely that it was planted there deliberately. As many visitors over the years will have seen, as it grew bigger and bigger it leant and pressed into the walls of the Melon Ground. Two circular braces were attached to the walls in an attempt to secure them and the tree kept growing and creating cracks in the wall.

The relationship, or perhaps the ‘competition’, between the tree and the wall epitomises  the dilemma that our Trust constantly faces.  We are obliged by our constitution to look after and conserve the historic fabric of this special garden design. At the same time we have to balance the long term needs of heritage with the environmental imperatives of nature and the planet.

Thankfully the Gardens are in a very large Conservation Area, so we are always able to consult with the relevant authorities about managing the trees as well as the historic walls.

About four years ago it was evident the tree was not well. Chris trimmed the tree to prevent any of the really large branches falling. The tree seemed to revive a bit… but this year on closer inspection It was found to be diseased pretty badly.

The lower trunk of the tree has now been left, for nature to take its course and for any bats, insects and birds that can benefit. We will be keeping an eye on the wall, to  spot any movement.

What about the wood?

As always, we try to find use for ‘recycled’ wood. Some of the very heavy logs will be used in our Forest School’s story circle area, some by local woodturners (and will be sold in the shop), the sawdust will be used in our compost toilet and other chippings as part of our mulching and composting.

Long term care of the trees

This year has seen an increase in costly major tree care work the Trust has had to undertake. A large pine on the Old Birmingham Road border, weakened by at least two vandal burnings has had to be cut down, a mature walnut, fallen during one of the storms also needed making safe… amongst many other smaller projects.

A mixture of climate change, unpredictable seasonal variations and the age of our many trees all suggest that the Trust’s budget setting for at least the next decade will have to include a much bigger figure for professional tree care…we reckon it will add another 3% to our ‘standstill’ costs of £1,000 per day.

As always, we depend on member and visitor income as well as project grants to fund these costs. Thank you for you continued support.

If you think you might be able to support our work in other ways, please do check our support pages here and come and have a chat.

[1] These Avenues were planted by Lady Ida Bridgeman in 1895 after a major storm blew down the remains of the Elm and Sycamore Avenues which had been planted in 1717.

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Growing and Outdoor Wellbeing activities starting in March

Get Started Growing

A no hassle series of workshops to help you feel confident growing your own plants

Book here

Eco Gym

These sessions for members of the local community to get involved in conservation. 

Want to stay in shape? Make new friends? Improve your wellbeing? Give something back to nature?

Here’s your answer! A free nature based volunteering session. Get moving with a variety of tasks that will give your local green space a helping hand. Meet new people who share a passion for being outdoors and staying active.

Soak up the benefits that fresh air and green space have on our mental health. We meet regularly to carry out seasonal conservation tasks, with a mixture of gentle and more strenuous activities depending on your energy levels.

Book here

Forest School

Every Saturday morning.. Pre booking essential

Forest school is a child centred outdoor learning experience which encourages holistic growth and development in the outdoors for children & adults.

Play, controlled risk and nature exploration are key to the process.

Each session will be 2 hours long and will contain opportunities for families to take part in an array of activities from den building, fire lighting, slack lining, storytelling, free play and much more.

Book here 

Want to be a regular Gardening volunteer …  click here to register your interest  Volunteering

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CBH fund short.mp4

from Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens

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We created two ‘dead’ hedges with the removed saplings and brash which creates a nice habitat for wildlife and a tidy boundary between areas.

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The Parkland has largely been left unmanaged since the estate was sold in 1969 with little work been done and so it now feels a bit neglected and quite wild. We plan to carry out a number of habitat improvements to enhance the site for wildlife and improve the experience for its visitors. 

Nuthatch (photo by Neil Aldridge)

We are busy getting to know the Parkland and would love to hear from you. We want to know what wildlife you see here.

Do you regularly admire the birds? Have you seen any owls?

Caught a glimpse of a fox or badger? We would love to know!

Please get in touch and send us your stories and pictures.

Do you remember what the Parkland used to be like in the past?

Did you play here as a child or have your grandparents told you stories about the park?

Maybe they would go hunting for horse chestnuts or picnics on the grassland?

Do they remember what the Avenue of Trees looked like before it became wild? Or have stories about the ponds?

I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Email us at : CastleBromParklandInfo@gmail.com

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The On your Doorstep project run by our friends over in B37 has so far gathered 212 different species of plants, insects, animals and birds….

Our Gardener on site has been participating too – although most of the rest of the staff are working from home..

She reports that there are great tits nesting by our office… we often have a nesting pair in the tall pole of our security cameras… I wonder if they’re there this year?

The On Your Doorstep project goes on for another week – and the app continues after that too.  Do download the free app and use it to report your sitings however modest and ordinary – the more we know about all the wildlife around us, the better we will be able to protect it and enjoy it together.

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This week, with so few people in the gardens one of them has been bold enough to come out a foraging in the day time.

We were initially a bit worried. Hedgehogs are nocturnal and seeing one in the daytime can be a sign of a poorly pig.

We looked at here, she looked at us.. We looked again. No longer interested in us, she turned slowly and waddled off into the undergrowth

We think – given she ‘waddled well’ that the one in this picture was probably a female foraging for food or for nesting materials. Given the lively group we’ve seen on the nightcam… we can only hope that our hogs are growing in number.

See here for some advice about hedgehogs in your gardens  https://www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/hedgehogs

https://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/hedgehog-fact-sheet/

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