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MIDLAND ATTRACTIONS ARE SPLASHING OUT TO TEMPT DAY VISITORS, REPORTS ZOE CHAMBERLAIN
THERE are lots of new attractions and events planned for families around the West Midlands in 2022.
You’ll be able to walk around some of the animal reserves at West Midland Safari Park for the first time ever, there will be three new CBeebies attractions at Alton Towers, a new ride at Drayton Manor and new live shows at Cadbury World.
An illuminated trail is being installed at Compton Verney, Dudley Zoo is getting new animal enclosures and the UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery is opening in Coventry.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is reopening for the first time in nearly two years and Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust is making its season bigger and better for 2022.
NEW LIGHT SHOW
Compton Verney in Warwickshire will have a new visitor experience for 2022 which will see the famous Capability Brown landscaped park and woodland transformed by a series of light installations.
Spectacle of Light invites you to go on an illuminated journey from the welcome centre, through the woodland, along the lake and over the bridge to see the house bathed in light.
There will be a changing ‘Light Curve’, a ‘Carpet of Colour’ on the main lawn and sparkling light beams across the lake, with music playing at each spectacle. Hot chocolate and treats will be on offer too.
The event runs from February 11 to March 6, with trails available from 5.30pm to 10pm.
CHOC FULL OF FUN
Cadbury World in Bournville is launching a series of all-new live stage shows featuring the muchloved characters throughout 2022.
To celebrate Easter, Freddo will star in a new stage show where he will be set a series of challenges by the Caramel Bunny – with lots of help from the audience.
Throughout the summer, visitors can also enjoy Freddo’s Festival of Fun, where the choclate frog will take audiences on a musical journey through the world of pop, country and rock.
Character dining experiences will be back on the menu on selected dates too.
NEW DIGITAL ART GALLERY
The UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery is opening in Coventry. The Reel Store will open at the former Coventry Telegraph building in the Canal Basin, Leicester Row, in the spring,.
This new state-of-the-art space will feature innovative, experiential art commissions with the main exhibition space spanning some 800 square metres of fixed projection mapping canvas with 14 4K laser projectors accompanied by a spatially adaptive sound system.
The first major exhibition will be Machine Memoirs: Space, by internationally acclaimed artist Refik Anadol as part of a long-term collaboration with NASA. It will use artificial intelligence to re-imagine two million publicly available images of space taken by NASA satellites and telescopes, and the International Space Station, capturing the deepest regions of outer space.
Through machine learning, the computer will sort and categorise these photographs, ultimately creating new digital interpretations of space that exist only in the mind of the machine. Tickets will go on sale for The Reel Store soon.
MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY REOPENING
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is set to reopen in April after almost two years.
The Chamberlain Square attraction will invite some of Brum’s most exciting creatives to take over the Round Room and Industrial Gallery. Look out for interactive exhibitions on Brum’s nightlife and celebrations
of inclusion and diversity.
The Edwardian Tearooms and BMAG Shop will also reopen together with Gallery 10 and the Bridge Gallery, but the rest of the museum will remain closed as work continues through to 2023/4.
NEW ATTRACTIONS AT ZOO
It is set to be an exciting year for Dudley Zoo as it celebrates its 85th anniversary.
A new outdoor orangutan enclosure is due to open at Easter and there will be a new visitor walkway and viewing area for the giraffes in the summer.
Later in the year, the tiger enclosure will be extended to include a
new pool and stream, as well as an additional climbing frame and platforms. A new indoor tiger house will also be constructed to include visitor viewing and off-show dens.
And a new picnic area is being created opposite the sloth enclosure.
EXTENDED SEASON AT SHAKESPEARE HOUSES
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has announced an extended season for 2022 with more opportunities for visitors to enjoy the Bard’s family homes in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace, the childhood home of the playwright, will reopen from February 5 follow
ing a brief winter closure (January 5 - February 4) to accommodate essential conservation and maintenance. It will then remain open throughout the year.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Shakespeare’s New Place will reopen to visitors for a longer season stretching from March 26 through to October 30. The trust is also extending the opening hours for all three sites to seven days a week, from 10am - 5pm.
And the trust is planning a wider programme of outdoor, familyfriendly activities and special events across all five houses during the course of the year, with further details to be announced.
NEW WALKTHROUGH ANIMAL RESERVES
West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley is set to install new pathways so that guests can visit the giraffes, cheetahs, rhinos and African elephants on foot – for the first time in the park’s 48-year history.
Plus, eight new Safari Lodges will be opening, where guests can stay overnight and enjoy spectacular views of the park’s giraffes and white rhinos, the latter being the only experience of its kind in the UK. The giraffe lodges will feature balconies, enabling guests to come face to face with these magnificent creatures.
Plans are also being submitted for a further four lodges, integrated into a new Sumatran tiger exhibit. The single-storey accommodation promising an ‘‘immersive wildlife encounter like no other’.’
A new red panda is set to arrive at the park too – a male companion for Mei Lin, a female that arrived in August. They will form part of a European Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP).
THREE NEW CBEEBIES ATTRACTIONS
Alton Towers resort has announced three new attractions are opening at CBeebies Land in 2022, each themed around individual shows – Hey Duggee, JoJo & Gran Gran and
Andy’s Adventures.
Young guests will be able to climb, slide and bounce their way through the Hey Duggee Big Adventure land, where they can meet Hey Duggee, collect their Big Adventure Badge and enjoy a new live show called The Map Badge.
Fans of Jojo & Gran Gran At Home will have fun exploring Gran Gran’s house from the hit TV animation, and there will be a new live interactive show called Andy’s Adventures Dinosaur Dig.
The new attractions are part of a wider re-imagining of the UK’s only CBeebies Land at the Staffordshire theme park, that will also include a new CBeebies Bug interactive trail.
NEW THEME PARK ATTRACTION
There’s a teaser on the Drayton Manor website about a new attraction opening at the theme Park, near Tamworth. Called ‘Invading’, there’s a video which shows Aztecstyle symbols and the words ‘‘something’s coming’’.
Park bosses are keeping tightlipped at the moment so watch this space.