From the nostalgia of Welwyn Garden City it was straight into more nostalgia in the West Midlands.

We made an early start and with a hop, skip and a jump we were on the M1 motorway heading north towards Birmingham. Birmingham is a very large conurbation of endless urbanity, where each town blurs into the next with no break in between. Our destination was Tividale near Dudley, where Rich was born and raised.

On our way to Rich’s parents’ house he showed us around all his childhood hotspots like his old school, the house his grandparents lived in, the house he was born in, the parks he played in as a kid and more. If anyone is familiar with Tividale Rich would like to give a shout out to The Quarry and The Bank which were apparently the places to hang out in Tividale. It was great for Rich to have his share of trips down memory lane too.

Our next stop was Rich’s parents’ house which the kids had never been to before. Not only did they get to see where their grandparents lived but they got to play with Grandad’s pride and joy – his train set.

We spent the afternoon in Merry Hill which is a large shopping centre in the heart of the West Midlands. I got to indulge in some serious retail therapy while the kids played with their grandparents in the amusements so everyone was happy.

In my humble and completely unbiased opinion, shopping in England is the best in the world. Yes it has got a lot more expensive recently, and the exchange rate to the Aussie dollar doesn’t help. But the prices are still reasonable and the selection is second to none. Shoes come in normal fit and wide fit, jeans come in normal length, short length and long length. The clothes are better quality and there’s a lot more to choose from. Australia still has a lot to learn about shopping!

Dinner that evening was in Wagamama. In case you don’t know, Wagamama is a Japanese fast-paced restaurant and used to be one of our favourites. I had the chicken katsu curry which was always my go-to order, but I’m sorry to say I was a little disappointed and found it lacking in flavour. One thing Australia does really well is Asian food, despite the lack of chicken breast (!). Although I will concede there is far too much salt in Australian food – we were really noticing the lack of salt in the English food by comparison, for better or worse.

Our hotel that night was the Village Hotel Dudley, another nostalgia trip for Rich as he used to be a regular at the gym here. The hotel itself is part of a larger complex with the hotel, gym, restaurant and a Starbucks. It was a modern, well appointed hotel which felt like pure luxury after the Premier Inn in Welwyn Garden City, but because it’s such a busy complex we did struggle to find parking near the entrance. Annoying when you have so much luggage.

The next morning after a quick stop for coffee and breakfast at the onsite Starbucks it was time to leave the West Midlands and start the proper holiday part of the trip. We’d had a great week revisiting our old haunts and seeing friends and family but we were excited about the road trip to come. We were headed north, our destination was Chatsworth.

To read my full guide to Dudley and Birmingham click here.

Coming up…Chatsworth

Previously…read part 5 here.

Photo credit Wikimedia Commons