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This is the Birmingham & the Midlands chapter from Lonely Planet’s England guidebook.

In the Midlands, quintessentially English countryside – green valleys, stately homes and choc-olate-box villages of wonky black-and-white timbered houses – mix with relics of centuries of indus-trial history, like the mills of Ironbridge and the Derwent Valley, and dynamic cities, including crea-tive hub Birmingham.

• survey the buzzing city of Birmingham from its library’s rooftop ‘secret garden’
• maps
• hike, cycle or drive through England’s inaugural national park, the Peak District
• transport
• stroll the William the Conqueror–built castle walls overlooking the cathedral in this histo-ry-steeped Lincoln
• restaurants & accommodation

Coverage includes: Birmingham, Warwickshire, Coventry, Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Staffordshire, Lichfield, Worcestershire, Worcester, Great Malvern, Herefordshire, Hereford, Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Shropshire, Shrewsbury, Ironbridge Gorge, Much Wenlock, Bridgnorth, Church Stretton, Bishop’s Castle, Ludlow, Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Newark-on-Trent, Southwell, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, Boston, Stamford, Leicestershire, Leicester, Rutland, Derbyshire, Derby, Ashbourne, Matlock Bath, Chesterfield, Peak District, Buxton, Castle-ton, Derwent Reservoirs, Edale, Eyam, Bakewell.