Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April

There is a hidden gem close to Birmingham city centre and must be ranked as one of the places to visit.  Martineau Gardens is a beautiful community garden just off Priory Road in the middle of Edgbaston.  After getting off the 61/63 bus that leaves the city, cross the Bristol Road and make your way up the hill on Priory Road.  After a short walk, Martineau Gardens is on your right.  There is a wooden entrance hut that leads you into two and a half acres of beautiful gardens.  Martineau is a mixture of traditional gardens and a woodland towards the back of the property.  The hub of the gardens is the Pavilion, so named, as there were originally tennis courts here as part of the land.  The building, which will be renovated in the coming year, is a welcoming centre for the gardens.  There is the opportunity to sit out on the table and chairs and share a cuppa with the volunteers and other visitors. 

Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Nine iPhone pictures from IgersbirminghamUK Instameet

IgersbirminghamUK run Instameets where we invite local photographers to a venue.  We tag our pictures and share them both on Instagram and also with the venue who kindly allowed us to photograph their property.  At the start of the meeting, we were met by Jenni Fyer, CEO of Martineau Gardens who gave us an introduction to the gardens.  Jenni outlined the history of the place where it was once used by teachers to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.  Now it is a community garden and is maintained by volunteers.  The gardens pride themselves on being a therapeutic environment of organically maintained land, close to the city centre.  The environment helps the community and supports people from different backgrounds especially those with various special needs. Jenni invited us to roam around the gardens, which were just waking up from the winter months, to take as many photographs as possible and then to join her and the volunteers for a cuppa at the Pavilion.  After the obligatory group photograph of the IgersbirminghamUK participants, we were then left free to wander around the grounds. 


I do love Instameets as it is a chance to catch up with old friends.  Therefore there was much chatting with people before the real business of the visit; the photographing began.  I made my way to the entrance and then into the formal gardens.  There were spring flowers around and the buds were only just appearing on the trees.  Next was the herb garden and the orchard.  The sun was out making shadow play on the greenhouse glass and the wood of the garden huts. The shipwreck play area looked fun, and a mental note was made to bring my grandchildren back to see the place.  Whilst the wildflower area was not yet up and running, I enjoyed taking pictures of the wheelbarrows, watering cans and the potted flowers.  I then moved onto the woodland walk and was immediately surrounded by tall trees and foliage.  

Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Peaceful scene
Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Cacti in the greenhouse.
Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Butterflies and Robins.
Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Apple orchard

This part of the gardens is Designated a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation (SLINC).  Jenni Fryer had mentioned that this area is teaming with wildlife and is a welcome green corridor amongst the urban conurbation that surrounds the gardens. There was a pond that looked a great place for dragon and damsel flies over the summer months.  Next along the path was a Sacred Circle for meeting on a common ground and then a collection of beehives.  There was much activity in the hives so I did not get too close!  I slowly wandered back as I found myself content just strolling through the gardens.  There was the occasional sound of tennis balls against rackets as we were neighbouring onto the Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club but otherwise you could lose yourself in the environment.

Upon returning to the Pavilion, one of the volunteers made me a lovely cuppa.  Then there was time to chat talking about the photography and the gardens.  Before saying my goodbyes, I purchased some apple and mango chutney from the shop. Something to remind me of the visit later.

Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Jars of Apple and Melon Chutney and Honey available to purchase.

I started off this blog saying that this is a hidden gem.  It is no longer hidden to me and this will be a place to visit in the future with the family. Martineau Gardens is a place to visit to meditate, to unwind and let the stresses of life fall away.  There is so much to enjoy and see.  


Finally thank you to all the volunteers and staff and thanks to Jenni Fryer for welcoming us and to Sarah Hill-Daniel at the gardens for arranging the date and timing of the IgersbirminghamUK visit.

Please follow these tags on Instagram to see more photographs by the talented people @IgersbirminghamUK.
#martineaugardens
#igersuk_meet_martineau

Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, IgersbirminghamUK, April
Dammodammo (picture by Jack Babington)

If you wish to discover more about the gardens then please visit the Martineau Gardens Website. There is also an informative leaflet plus map of the gardens.

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Brum through a lens at Night

When the call goes out on Instagram for night time photography organised by the WestMidlandsPhotoCollective then you know it will be a good event.  Unfortunately, it was limited numbers, and I was unsuccessful. I put my name down  on the waiting list and promptly forgot all about it.  A day before the event, a call came through saying someone had dropped out and was I still interested?  No difficulties in saying yes.

Brum through a lens at Night
Brindley Place with reflecting lights on the Canal

We met at the Roundhouse Birmingham which is where the horses that pulled the canal boats were kept in the early days of the industrial revolution.  After a period of falling into despair, the Roundhouse is now restored to its former glory. With funding from the National Lottery Heritage fund, a partnership formed between the Canal and River Trust and National Trust has led to a community-based centre offering new purpose for the building.  Check out their web site to see what is on offer.

Brum through a lens at Night
Classic viewpoint of Gas Street Basin.
Brum through a lens at Night
Gas Street Basin looking towards the Black Sabbath bridge.

Jim and Sarah from the WMPC met us and outlined the walk.  We followed a community route called “Brum through a Lens”.  We were armed with our tripods and set out along the canals to Gas Street Basin to start taking our first set of photographs.  It is one of the highlighted stops on the Brum through a Lens walk. This classic view is immediately under the Cambrian Wharf wall, looking out over the basin towards the Cube.  I started having tripod malfunctions and struggled to get pictures.  By the time I had freed up the tripod, it was time to move on to the Cube.  On the way we passed under Holliday Street Aqueduct.  This looked an ideal spot for light trials and I lingered around the place taking what turned out to be my best picture of the night.  Several cars came through at once and I had the camera on the long exposure settings (25s, f22, ISO 100). 

Brum through a lens at Night
Light Trails under Holliday Street Aqueduct

Catching up with the group, I took a picture of the Mailbox.  Trying something different I went low and illuminated the train tracks with my torch.  The long exposure gave the water a milky texture and the background was the bright lights of the Mailbox. 

Brum through a lens at Night
Mailbox with old tracks in the foreground.

The final stop was Centennial Square with the Big Wheel and the Star Flyer.  I looked around for a vantage point.  Many of the photographers were setting up underneath the Star Flyer and I saw their pictures after the event.  It was a unique viewpoint.  I decided to stand back and get a good vantage point with both attractions in the viewfinder.  After a while I got an idea of how the Star Flyer was moving up and down.  I had a few efforts with the long exposure and then there was one session where I captured the movement from top to bottom.  The flyer had illuminated struts with people suspended in chairs out into the heights.  It looked quite scary and the movement made a good subject for the long exposure. There were also plenty of screams as well to accompany the long exposure.

Brum through a lens at Night
The Star Flyer looks like a lollipop after the long exposure treatment.

The group moved back to the Roundhouse to take part in some light painting.  Both fairy lights and long neon tubes were used for the light sources.  It was a different light display and made for some dramatic effects as shown.  The circular structure of the roundhouse allowed it to be very dark with little stray light.  An ideal location for light painting.

All the walking combined with the photography made for thirsty work.  The remaining photographers made their way to the Distillery pub for some well-earned refreshments.  There was talk about those pictures that were successful and those that got away.

Thank you to West Midlands Photo Collective for organising the meeting which was very enjoyable giving many of us an opportunity to wander around the City. Being in a group reduced concerns about our safety with all of our equipment and we were able to concentrate on the photography.

All these long exposure pictures were taken with a Canon D5 on a tripod. I used a fast zoom lens 24-105mm. The camera settings were on manual with an ISO 100. The aperture was set at either f/11 to f/22. The timings were around 30 seconds for the light trails and the Star Flyer. At the Roundhouse, I adjusted the timings to be around a few seconds due to the intensity of the light.


This is a great community who are active in many different parts of Birmingham life. It is about celebrating inspired people and the success of different communities in the Birmingham area. One are of celebration is in photography. The good people of Birmingham have featured 10 of my best photographs as portrayed on their web site

It is interesting to me what other people like with my photographs. All the pictures taken were featured on Twitter @birminghamweare and received numerous likes.

The Birmingham Gems Calendar is back and I am fortunate to have one Photograph in this years Edition. I have secured the month of May and it is when the blossoms are in full riot. The Ikon Gallery provides the backdrop to the pink blossom. Thank you to all at Birminghamweare and all the other brilliant photographers. If you want to know more about Birmingham or just follow the site which includes great pictures of the City by people with passion then here is the link

BirminghamWeAre – a Community of Passion