Oswestry in the West Midlands

30 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Llwyd Mansion © flickr.com - Shropshire & Telford TSB/cc-by-2.0

Llwyd Mansion © flickr.com – Shropshire & Telford TSB/cc-by-2.0

Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. Oswestry is the largest settlement within the Oswestry Uplands, a designated natural area and national character area.   read more…

Tamworth in Staffordshire

28 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town Hall © panoramio.com - Tanya Dedyukhina/cc-by-3.0

Town Hall © panoramio.com – Tanya Dedyukhina/cc-by-3.0

Tamworth is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. The population of Tamworth borough (2021) was 78,838. The wider urban area had a population of 81,964.   read more…

Broadway, jewel of the Cotswolds

26 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  6 minutes

Row houses of Cotswold stone © Peter K Burian/cc-by-4.0

Row houses of Cotswold stone © Peter K Burian/cc-by-4.0

Broadway is a large village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, England, with a population of 2,540 at the 2011 census. It is in the far southeast of Worcestershire, close to the Gloucestershire border, midway between Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh. It is sometimes referred to as the “Jewel of the Cotswolds”. The village is overlooked by Broadway Hill, the highest point in the northern Cotswolds at 1,024 ft (312 m) above sea level, which is popular with hill walkers.   read more…

Cotswolds in England

20 December 2021 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Bon voyage, Living, Working, Building, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Broadway row © Peter K Burian/cc-by-sa-4.0

Broadway row © Peter K Burian/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Cotswolds is an area in south-central, West Midlands and South West England comprising the Cotswold Hills, a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment, known as the Cotswold Edge, above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat rare in the UK and that is quarried for the golden-coloured Cotswold stone. It contains unique features derived from the use of this stone; the predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, historical towns and stately homes and gardens.   read more…

Worcester in the West Midlands

17 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

The Guildhall in High Street © Richard Nicholls/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Guildhall in High Street © Richard Nicholls/cc-by-sa-3.0

Worcester is a city and the county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some 17 miles (27 km) southwest of the southern suburbs of Birmingham and 23 miles (37 km) north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 100,000 people.   read more…

Wolverhampton in the West Midlands

2 October 2012 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Art Gallery © G-Man

Art Gallery © G-Man

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands. In 2004, the local government district had an estimated population of 239,100. Wolverhampton is part of the West Midlands Urban Area which had a population of 2.3 million in the 2001 census which makes it part of the second largest urban area in the United Kingdom. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG35) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the “West Midlands” NUTS 2 region. The West Midlands County is one of the most heavily urbanised counties in the UK. Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form the most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom outside London, with a combined population of around 2.27 million.   read more…

Birmingham in the West Midlands

23 August 2012 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Birmingham City Council building at Victoria Square © Cristian Bortes

Birmingham City Council building at Victoria Square © Cristian Bortes

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900, and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,738,100. Birmingham’s metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom’s second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.   read more…

Shrewsbury in the West Midlands

19 June 2012 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Old Shrewsbury Market Hall in the Square © Samluke777

Old Shrewsbury Market Hall in the Square © Samluke777

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a borough home to some 96,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council. It is the second largest town in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, after Telford. Shrewsbury is a historic market town with the town centre having a largely unaltered medieval street plan. The town features over 660 historic listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th century. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone castle fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively, by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town hosts one of the oldest and largest horticultural events in the country, Shrewsbury Flower Show, and is known for its floral displays, having won various awards since the turn of the 21st century, including Britain in Bloom in 2006.   read more…

Coventry, city of peace and reconciliation

8 August 2011 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Swanswell Gate © G-Man

Swanswell Gate © G-Man

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although both Leicester and Nottingham have larger urban areas. The population of Coventry has risen to 309,800 as of 2008. Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of London and 19 miles (31 km) east of Birmingham, and is further from the coast than any other city in Britain. Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.   read more…

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