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Opposite page: Birmingham Council HouseAbove: Claude Monet (1840–1926), The Church at Varengeville, c1882 (oil on canvas, 65x81.3cm); part of the collection at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts (see Tour 11)University of Birmingham campus. Founded in 1932 thanks to a generous legacy from locally-born property magnate Sir Henry Barber and his wife, it has an outstanding collection of paintings by many of the greatest artists in Western art. Lady Barber’s stipulation that everything should be of “that standard of quality required by the National Gallery or Wallace Collection” is refl ected on every wall: there are works by leading lights such as Botticelli, Rubens, van Dyck and Degas, to name just a few. These two cultural ‘big-hitters’ are supported by a cast of other museums, galleries and attractions that provide insights into different aspects of Birmingham’s past and present. Aston Hall, for instance, is a rare survivor from the 17th century: a red-brick Jacobean mansion complete with ogee-capped towers like something out of a fairytale. Not long after the house’s completion in 1635, it was visited by Charles I and, less happily, by Parliamentarian forces – a hole in the staircase made by a cannonball is still visible. It was also the model for Bracebridge Hall in US writer Washington Irving’s novel of the same name. Original features such as ornate plasterwork and wood panelling, at their fi nest in the Long Gallery, provide a backdrop to period room sets furnished with items from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.An even rarer survivor is Blakesley Hall, a timber-framed house built in 1590 and one of the oldest buildings in the city. The house is furnished as it would have been in 1684, thanks to an inventory taken that year, and provides a fascinating insight into the life of a merchant family. Winterbourne House and Garden, more than 300 years younger than Blakesley Hall, offers another glimpse into daily life, this time in Birmingham’s manufacturing boom years. It’s a superb example of an Edwardian Arts and Crafts suburban villa, decorated and furnished as it would have been when its original owners, wealthy industrialist John Nettlefold and his wife Margaret, lived there. The seven-acre botanic garden, whose highlights include a hazel tunnel, sandstone rock garden and herb garden (recently renovated with help from Birmingham Evening DFAS), was also infl uenced by the Arts and Crafts style, and merits lengthy exploration. More modest dwellings are the backbone of the Jewellery Quarter, a conservation area in the Hockley area of the city. For more than 200 years, its small workshops and houses were – and still are – home to Birmingham’s thriving jewellery industry. Even today, around 40% of British jewellery is made here and, with 400 workshops and boutiques to discover, anyone looking to buy will fi nd plenty of choice. The small Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is based around the perfectly preserved original workshops and offi ces of Smith & Pepper, a traditional jewellery manufacturing fi rm. It explores the history of the trade in Hockley and gives a glimpse into how pieces were made. The quirky Newman Brothers at the Coffi n Works celebrates another important metalworking product – coffi n furniture – and is set in the restored factory of the fi rm whose work appeared at the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother, among others.The architectural highlight of the Jewellery Quarter is St Paul’s Square, whose elegant Georgian buildings somehow survived the Victorian era’s expansion and redevelopment. At its heart is St Paul’s, the parish church of many of the members of the infl uential Lunar Society, a key organisation of the Midlands Enlightenment of the late 1700s which paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. The square’s bars, cafés and restaurants are the perfect vantage points from which to soak up the atmosphere and plan what to see next – the National Trust’s wonderfully evocative Back to Backs, perhaps, or historic Sarehole Mill where Tolkien used to play, or possibly St Philip’s Cathedral, a stunning example of the English baroque style – before heading off again with a thoroughly appropriate cry of ‘Forward’.¥ The AGM will be held on May 17, 2017 in Birmingham Town Hall. National Chairman June Robinson will be hosting a reception at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on May 16, while the Birmingham Council House will be the venue for the ChairmanÕs Dinner on May 17. See overleaf for details, a list of Area tours and special hotel rates. Everything for the AGM can be booked at www.nadfas.org.uk/agm-2017.For ALL bookings go to www.nadfas.org.uk/agm-2017AGM BIRMINGHAM www.nadfas.org.uk NADFAS REVIEW / AUTUMN 2016 31