National Trust - The Firs: Elgar's Birthplace

A fascinating museum covering the life of this remarkable man, whom I admit I was not terribly familiar with. Certainly provides an intriguing insight into the man, his world and family.

Was pleasantly surprised as I didn't realise that there was both a Visitors Centre AND The Firs with the most beautiful cottage type garden as well. My visit was at the same time as two school visits but the children weren't in the cottage so I was left to wander quite happily with just one or two other visitors. Although not knowing a huge amount about Elgar, I do enjoy his music and found all the exhibits really interesting. Certainly worth a visit if you are in the area. The cafe wasn't available when I visited due to a lack of staff but the staff that I did meet were friendly and full of Elgar information.

A delightful visit to the historic birthplace of a great composer. The guides made this experience so worthwhile, sharing theor knowledge and passion of the great man.

The exhibition display boards were very interesting, as were the artifacts, but the highlight was the talk and musical snippets shared by the guide Richard.

Visiting the small cottage and gardens was the icing on the cake.

If you are interested to find out more there are books (many for £1 to £5) and CDs/vinyl for very reasonable prices.

Also on site is free parking, picnic benches outside, toilets and a cafe.

What a lovely little national trust property! A great place to visit to learn about Edward Elgar. We were welcomed warmly by Diane and introduced to the property when we arrived. Richard gave an excellent talk on Elgar and played musical compositions from throughout his life. And then we visited his cottage where another very knowledgeable guide gave us more details about his life. Well worth a visit!

Fascinating house, if you have the time pop in its lovely, being a national trust member helps as it's free to get in but lots to see and has a lovely coffee shop with conformable seating

I confess to having little knowledge of Elgar the family man and the visit to the Firs was fascinating.
His life, marriage and family life along with his musical career was explained by the guides in detail and showed a real interest in the composer; their knowledge and enthusiasm was excellent and made the man come to life as a real person. A very rewarding experience I would definitely recommend.

Lovely setting, obviously alot smaller than a majority of NT buildings, but nice to see all the same. As usual the guides and volunteers were wonderful, helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.

All the staff were so very welcoming and so grateful that we had made the effort to visit too! I wasn't quite sure what I expected but it was so much better than my expectations!
I especially liked the gardens, the piano and the chess set but my absolute favourite was the statue of Sir Edward Elgar casually sat on the bench. A wonderful photo opportunity!
All in all fantastic visit abd highly recommended even for those that are not "into" his music whereas I am!