Birmingham NEC (1 Viewer)

[Brakers]

Hi Everybody Anyone know if there is anywhere I can park my motorhome 28ft very near to the NEC Birmingham this Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.
Many Thanks Tony

 

[chippy63]

There is a toby cavery at stonebridge island which allows overnight parking i believe

 

[Brakers]

toby cavery at stonebridge island

Thanks for that Chippy that's one option I've looked on google and it's reasonably close to NEC.
Best Wishes Tony

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[Zigisla]

Ditto the Toby. Used it this fen for the nec. 7 mins. Park on exit road passed barrier if you are 28 ft

 

[Brakers]

Park on exit road passed barrier if you are 28 ft

Hi Zigesla thanks for the info, but why past the barrier, do they lock the barriers down at night or something? The car park is quite big and I see there was a lorry over in the corner when I googled it, so is there another reason to park on the exit road past the barrier?
Many Thanks Tony

 

[Zigisla]

Hi Zigesla thanks for the info, but why past the barrier, do they lock the barriers down at night or something? The car park is quite big and I see there was a lorry over in the corner when I googled it, so is there another reason to park on the exit road past the barrier?
Many Thanks Tony

The car park is quite slopey and beyond the barrier is reasonably straight for a long vehicle. No barrier down time as far as I know. Lorry might have been one of the workers that use the place for breakfast. If busy easy to enter car park and turn right and head for exit. No other reason.

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[travelling wilbury]

parked there fairly recently, had my dinner there (not the best) but it was handy for where i was going....bit noisy, but ive been in worse places, lol....might be worth giving them a ring...

 

[Brakers]

might be worth giving them a ring...

If busy easy to enter car park and turn right and head for exit.

Hi Chris and Zigisla
I assume you both asked them if you could park there overnight? Also did you both phone ahead.
Many Thanks Tony

 

[Zigisla]

Hi Chris and Zigisla
I assume you both asked them if you could park there overnight? Also did you both phone ahead.
Many Thanks Tony

Phoned ahead and you give registration details to the front desk when arrived.

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[travelling wilbury]

tony, yes i rang ahead as i had cause to use the van to go to the NE of Birmingham and was looking for pub stopover reference data, and across this website...

http://wildcamping.moonfruit.com/pub-stopovers/4563550207

which lists known pub who are happy to have you stay with them....most just for having a meal or a drink with them....some want ypu to ring ahead, i just did as a courtesy

it opens into google maps (with an extra set of poi info) which is great as you can survey the approach access etc.....

i picked one, just phoned and they confirmed i was welcome....just park in a particular spot....and enjoy the meal and the kip.....

 

[Brakers]

Phoned ahead and you give registration details to the front desk when arrived.

i picked one, just phoned and they confirmed i was welcome....just park in a particular spot....and enjoy the meal and the kip.....

Hi Zigisla and Chris
Thanks for the info I have clicked the useful icon, I think you should be able to include more than one rating as these were both usefull and needed thanking.
By the way It's the NEC I'm going to, to see the Gadget Show Live.
Best Wishes to you both.
Tony

 

[TheCaller]

By the way It's the NEC I'm going to, to see the Gadget Show Live.

So, two reports at the end of the week please!

1. Any 'must have' gadgets that we should know about? The Gadget Show must be worse than a motorhome show - so many things that we never knew we couldn't live without until we knew of their existence.

2. How you got on at the pub. Did you need to speak to anyone in particular, or did whoever answered the phone understand what you wanted to do? Meal ok? Peaceful night? Did you have their breakfast as well?

Reason for report no. 2 - I need to do exactly the same thing on the last Tuesday of April - in our case it's to go to NAIDEX, a big exhibition for the Disability Aids market - also to see what new gadgets are around that we (or Mrs C, to be precise) can't live without. It's also time for a fresh look at electric wheelchairs, as the current chariot has done over 10 years of sterling service but is no longer sold or supported in the UK, so spares & service are getting problematic.

Many thanks.

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[Brakers]

So, two reports at the end of the week please!

Watch this space Caller, If you don't get a response by next Monday give me a nudge as at the moment I'm trying to find out a problem with my motorhome and I've got a memory like a sieve.
Best Wishes Tony

 

[Brakers]

Hi TheCaller

Well I had a great day at the Birmingham NEC, If you are looking for gadgets that you cannot live without in a motorhome they you would be underwhelmed, unless you wanted one of these drones to hover over the houses to see where everyone is pointing their aerial. There was quite a few different electric bikes, fold up ones etc. but I don’t think they would interest you.

Going on from that is the Toby Inn, I did call ahead and offered my REG No. but the lady said just turn up and use the facilities and the fact I didn’t really need to phone.

When I arrived the main part of the car park is slopping to some degree, so as advised in an above post I parked on the drive leading out of the car park. I thought this might be looked on badly but the drive leading out is marked out for parking, so no problems, but no chance of a TV signal, on mine anyway.

I got there at about 21:00 went into the bar asked if I needed to do anything like leave my Reg etc, but was told this was only needed to phone ahead and leave your Reg when there was a Motorhome and camping exhibition on at the NEC as there was so many Motorhomes wanting to park at that time.

The Food is a tipical Toby Inn style Menu, so please don’t expect gourmet food it’s a carvary and has various begets etc, plus puddings.

If you go for the carvary, don’t go for the extra large cavary as you can pile your plate as high as you like anyway with the smaller one.

I went for the carvary, it was getting late about 21:30 and the food was not very hot, I’m not that picky so it was OK for me but I could see that some people would complain, also coming to the end of the evening there was not a very good selection in the veg section, but the beer from the cask was nice.

As one person commented above it’s a bit noisy being near to a dual carriage way but it didn’t worry me as soon as I take my hearing aids out then all is fairly quiet.

In the morning I opted for the breakfast and coffee, which seem to be supported by quite a few working people, who must come in on their morning break, again which is very reasonable and you serve yourself and can again fill your plate to your hearts desire and there is DIY toast which has one of those machines which continually rotates as you place the bread in, and the coffee which you can refill as many times as you like.

Once again I think the breakfast could have been hotter. The staff was very friendly and really I have no complaints, but that’s just me, you tend to get what you pay for and this was no Gordon Ramseys menu.
Hope this helps.
Best Wishes Tony

 

[TheCaller]

Many thanks - just the info I needed.

So - did you get any new toys?

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[Brakers]

Hi Caller
No I didn't, I was looking at the camera's which record as you travel but I wanted one which recorded front and rear for my car. The roadangel which was on offer "sort of" did have two cameras but was linked together by a wire, so had to be installed by a company, for me anyway. I was hoping for a wireless rear camera as well but it seems they have not gone that way yet. Really there was not much that took my fancy except some berghoff cookware which the demo was very impressive, but hey those demonstrators just know how to do it. How many gadgets have we got at home in cupboards which we were impressed with watching the demonstators and we get them home try to use once or twice and then regulated them to the rear of our cupboards to collect dust until we throw them out or give them away.
Best Wishes Tony

 

[TheCaller]

I forgot to report back.

Apart from the fact that we picked a bad night, I would endorse everything Tony (@Brakers) said above. The bad night in our case was that there were major overnight road works going on at the roundabout just outside the pub. They weren't a problem in themselves - in fact they probably reduced the amount of traffic noise - but the contractors had obviously done a deal with the pub to use the carpark for parking all the lorries & vans that weren't actively part of the immediate workings. They were coming & going all the time. That flat bit of the exit road isn't all that wide & I didn't fancy a constant procession of wagons squeezing past the van all night, The combination of the noise & the worry of something scraping the side of the van wouldn't have led to a restful sleep.

So we had to find the next nearest to flat part of the carpark, which wasn't all that flat & was right beside the road. To be fair, we still slept pretty well. So long as I can get the van more or less level from side to side, I can put up with quite a slope front to back.

It certainly made getting into the NEC next morning a doddle. Far easier than doing battle with the M6 & M42 in the morning rush hour. My thanks to those that suggested it.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

I just went in and parked with the delivery vans and lorries when I went to the show and the CC site was about 100 yards away they paid an kings ransom to use it.

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