Hi all

It's my dad's birthday soon and as a present I am thinking of going to visit the Solihull factory and do a tour and experience drive.
I am looking for some recommendations on where to stay or what other things might be interesting to visit in the neighbourhood or other things I should keep in account.

I was thinking of combining the Range Rover Experience Tour in the morning with a half day drive experience in the afternoon. Has anyone tried this combination before? And do you think it is worth it to do the Range Rover Experience tour rather than the normal tour?

As for accommodation, we would most probably fly to Birmingham (or less likely through train from London.). Would it be recommended to stay in Solihull? We wouldn't be looking after much more than a pub to eat and drink something. And is there anything else that is a must-see when we are there?

All help is appreciated!

Last time I went I stayed at the Premier Inn about 10 minutes drive from the factory as the visit I did then was an early morning start around 0830. Best said it is clean and pleasant like all Premier Inns but there are big notices all around the car park about thefts from cars............... It's just off the dual carriageway beyond the factory slip road and we found it quite quiet despite being close to the road. Plenty of Indian and Chinese restaurants nearby too.
The National Exhibition Centre is also near to the factory and that has an on site hotel or two IIRC. Google is your friend though, just type in "hotels near to Land Rover factory Solihull" and it will come up with loads of choice!

If you are coming by car up the M40 then at J12/13 before you get to Birmingham a visit to The British Motor Hertiage Centre at Gaydon is on the LR/Aston Martin site.............. it is well worth a visit and there is a mini Land Rover Experience on the site that you can get driven around for an extra fee. LR Developement Centre is on the site too and often you will hear loud and expensive sounding engines running on the high speed test track but you won't see anything unless you are very very lucky!
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk

Edit - found the Crowne Plaza and they also have a list of things to visit while there:
https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/gb/...-nearby_cp 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Worth checking to see if anything is on at the NEC. Land Rover, The NEC, and Birmingham Airport are virtually on top of each other.
http://www.thenec.co.uk/whats-on/ In Spain - 2018 F Pace - Frightened away from the Sports due to crank failures
Gone - A couple of RRS, A couple of Disco's. However thinking of another Sport.

Also, maybe contact Land Rover Solihull to see if they have a recommendation of where to stay..... perhaps they've had visitors before and have had to source somewhere. It might be an idea to request this after you've made your booking for the factory visit and they may even be able to get you a cheaper rate in a hotel nearby after they see that you are coming a considerable distance and it's a special occasion. If you don't ask you'll never know

There's the national motorcycle museum just up the road...if you are into classic bikes its a good place to visit.

Thanks for all the info, much appreciated!

I have reached out to LR Solihull to ask them a few things and see if they have any recommendations or deals with hotels.

I did the tour a few years back with my father and lived in Solihull area. There are some decent hotels around the NEC or there's a nice Village Inn that I stay at on a regular basis. Nice pub and excellent rooms. 2018 Telsa MS
2012 Range Rover Sport HSE+
1990 Porsche 944
1985 LR 90 Soft top V8

Plus circa 8 or 9 miles (less than 10 minutes) up the A45 towards Coventry is the Windmill Hotel & Golf Course. Use to be owned by ex Speedway rider John Harrhy. I played Golf with him there many times.

http://www.windmillvillagehotel.co.uk/contact.php In Spain - 2018 F Pace - Frightened away from the Sports due to crank failures
Gone - A couple of RRS, A couple of Disco's. However thinking of another Sport.

Thanks for all the help everybody!

I was able to get in touch with the Visitor Centre who have been amazing in arranging everything! They are even going to make sure we can take a Sport off-road during the experience

I ended up booking at the Crowne Plaza as they had some amazing offers on booking. We would still have a few days free outside the experience so I am looking at other things we could possibly do; currently looking at (as mentioned above) the National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, perhaps a film at an IMAX (which we don't have in Belgium),.. plenty of choice!

Earlier this week we had our factory tour and experience drive and it was absolutely amazing. They really did an incredible job making it a day to remember.

They came to pick us up at the hotel with a very nice LWB Range Rover and drove us to the visitor centre where they had some food and coffee for us. We then started with the first half of the day, the Land Rover Experience. We had a nice FFRR available for us and it was amazing to see how easily it just went through the whole experience - it is a special feeling driving effortlessly through half a meter of water.

And after a very nice lunch we started with the factory tour and it was absolutely amazing to have a peek behind the curtains and to see where they produce the cars - I can really recommend it! Very informative. Apparently, if you have a contrast roof your lower half of the sport will have been painted twice.

It was also a special day as they were supervising a MY18 FFRR build, to see if there are any possible problems when production starts. It was early in the production process, so couldn't actually see any changes, but there were seats waiting out of the production line, so perhaps they did changed these.

During the drive around the plant I did see a MY18 L494 facelift Sport, but it was camouflaged - I could only see it had changed headlights; much like the Velar - the DLR were squared rather than rounded as they are now.

And last but not least a special thanks to Joseph and Graham from the Visitor Centre for making this an amazing and truly unforgettable day!