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Well A few months back I promised some photos of the Bournville estate here in Birmingham. Well I got a couple today its such a large area i will need a car to get more.
Enjoy.





More to come.

Fancy you remembering that.

Photos of a housing estate wouldn't mean a lot to anyone not familiar with the history behind it. This would have applied to me before my my visit to the Cadbury's factory. It was a lot more interesting than I expected.

Beautiful

Thanks guys. I'll try to get some of the factory in the near future Doug.
So people know, these houses would have been owned by the lower level employees, and are considered the cheap houses on the market. So far the cheapest i have seen was

Nice. I like brick houses...

Where you from in Bournville Craig? My parents are from Shenley Green.

I am actually from litterally just outside of bournville. Kings Norton. They dont let poor riff raff like myself to own a house there

Hi Craig

Wonderful shots...just a quick question.

In shot #2...if you are driving...I do not see any STOP signs or traffic lights, so who has the right of way at this intersection.
Maybe I am missing something?

Thanks for posting them...very nice.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Looks a tidbit like Privet Drive.

Very nice look there Craig....

Hi Craig

Wonderful shots...just a quick question.

In shot #2...if you are driving...I do not see any STOP signs or traffic lights, so who has the right of way at this intersection.
Maybe I am missing something?

Thanks for posting them...very nice.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Hi Doug.
the right of way goes to the road running right to left as its the main road. There are actually road markings to signal you to stop, those double broken white lines indicate you must stop.
Thanks guys:)

Great peak in a foreign region ( at least for me! )... seems like a nice area! But what kind of estate is it? Is it posh? I couldn't tell cause the houses all seem the same. In Belgium, where building is quite free, you'll only find look-alike-houses in social quarters. But than again, the UK might be more like Holland, where they are more strict about what kind of house goes where...

Cheers,

Kris

Hi Craig Wonderful shots...just a quick question.

In shot #2...if you are driving...I do not see any STOP signs or traffic lights, so who has the right of way at this intersection.
Maybe I am missing something?

The lines in the road itself indicate the right of way. In this case the major road runs across the side roads the photo was taken from. Note they're not continuous so you have to slow down but not necessarily come to a halt. There might or might not be a road sign saying something like Give Way out of shot.

But what kind of estate is it? Is it posh? I couldn't tell cause the houses all seem the same.

This estate is part of the Cadbury brothers "Factory in a Garden". They would originally have been occupied by employees of the Cadbury's chocolate factory right in the middle of it. This was the first community project of its kind in the country & vastly improved living & working conditions for ordinary working people. The estate is still run by the Bournville Village Trust but I imagine it's very different now & the homes would be far more expensive. The history of Bournville is very interesting. http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/about_chocolate/history_cadbury/social_pioneers/bournville_village.htm

But what kind of estate is it? Is it posh? I couldn't tell cause the houses all seem the same.

I lived on the BVT until I was 17 and my parents still do.

Earliest houses date back to late 1800's, my parents house was built in the 1960's. Some houses (the detached 3 storey house in the photo) look older and may have existed before the BVT.

The BVT is 'dry' and pubs and off licenses exist only at the edges, another of Cadbury's ideals.

Also, to preserve the 'garden' nature of the estate the BVT is very strict with planning and maintenance of the land. Each house had and should maintain 3 fruit trees in the back garden.

As a result the houses have always been seen as desirable, although 'posh' is a relative term . House prices there are quite high, but the property market is slow at the moment.

Craig, if you're in Kings Norton then post a pic of the Saracen's Head. Now that's a pub!

I lived on the BVT until I was 17 and my parents still do.

Interesting. Although similar communities might be based on the concept I think Bournville might be unique as I've never seen anything quite like it. It was certainly a revolutionary idea at the time & must have been a wonderful place to work compared with conditions in other factories. Being strict Quakers some of the Cadbury's ideals might seem strange to most of us but they were unusual in actually caring about their employees. It's a pity some modern employers don't follow their example.