Solihull

A first visit to Solihull tends to start with the National Motorcycle Museum, a name that gets mentioned before anything else and gives the day a proper focus. From there, most people fill out the rest of the trip with whatever suits the group: Planet Ice Solihull for an afternoon on the rink, Four Ashes Golf Centre for a round, or Solihull Moors Football Club if there's a match on. Families with younger children tend to gravitate towards The Jungle Hut, Play Lane Ltd, or Mirabella's Soft Play Café, and Cineworld Solihull is the easy fallback for an evening when everyone's had enough fresh air.

Solihull itself is a comfortable, well-kept town rather than a place built around one big sight, and that's part of its appeal on a first trip - you can move between attractions without much fuss and still have time left over to just walk around. It works well as a base for a couple of days rather than a flying visit, particularly if you want to pair the town with the surrounding countryside.

Put together, a first trip to Solihull tends to follow a natural shape: a morning at the motorcycle museum or on the ice, an afternoon exploring the town, and an evening settling into one of its many restaurants. It's an easy place to plan around, and flexible enough that a second visit rarely feels like repeating the first.