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The factories of the West Midlands were the powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution and Birmingham , Britain's second city, was once the world's greatest industrial metropolis. Long saddled with a reputation as a culture-hating, car-loving backwater, Birmingham has redefined its image in recent years, initiating some ambitious architectural and environmental schemes, jazzing up its museums and industrial heritage sites and giving itself a higher profile on the nation's cultural map than it's ever had before. It's not an especially good-looking city, it must be admitted, but it does hold several excellent attractions and it's certainly lively, with nightlife encompassing everything from Royal Ballet productions to all-night raves, and a great spread of restaurants and pubs in between.

The counties to the south and west of Birmingham - Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire - comprise a rural stronghold that maintains an emotional and political distance from the conurbation. The left-wing politics of the big city seem remote indeed when you're in Shrewsbury, but in fact it's only seventy miles from the big city. For the most part, the four counties constitute a quiet, unassuming stretch of pastoral England whose beauty is rarely dramatic, but whose charms become more evident the longer you stay. Of the four counties, Warwickshire is the least obviously scenic, but draws by far the largest number of visitors, for - as the road-signs declare at every entry point - this is "Shakespeare Country". The prime target is, of course, Stratford-upon-Avon , with its handful of Shakespeare-related sites and world-class theatre, but spare time also for the diverting town of Warwick , which has a superb church and a whopping castle.

Neighbouring Worcestershire , which stretches southwest from the urban fringes of the West Midlands, holds two principal places of interest, Worcester , which is graced by a mighty cathedral, and Great Malvern , a mannered inland resort spread along the rolling contours of the Malvern Hills - prime walking territory. From here, it's west again for Herefordshire , a large and sparsely populated county that's home to several charming market towns, most notably picture-postcard Ledbury and Hay-on-Wye ; the latter has the largest concentration of second-hand bookshops in the world. There's also Hereford , where the remarkable medieval Mappa Mundi map is displayed, and pocket-sized Ross-on-Wye , which is within easy striking distance of an especially scenic stretch of the Wye River Valley . Next door, to the north, rural Shropshire weighs in with Ludlow , one of the region's prettiest towns, awash with antique half-timbered buildings, and the amiable county town of Shrewsbury , which is also close to the hiking trails of the Long Mynd . Shropshire has a fascinating industrial history, too, for it was here in the Ironbridge Gorge that British industrialists built the world's first iron bridge and pioneered the use of coal as a smelting fuel. These were two key events in the Industrial Revolution and, appropriately, the Gorge's industrial heyday is recalled by a phalanx of first-rate museums.

To the east of Shropshire, sprawling north of the Birmingham conurbation, is Staffordshire , where Lichfield makes a good hand of its links with Samuel Johnson , while Stoke-on-Trent remembers the good times, when its potteries dominated the world market, in an excellent museum and several heritage sites - and factory shops. Beyond lies Derbyshire , whose northern reaches incorporate the region's finest scenery in the rough landscapes of the Peak District National Park . The latter offers great opportunities for moderately strenuous walks, as well as the diversions of the former spa town of Buxton , the limestone caverns of Castleton and the so-called "Plague Village" of Eyam . In addition, there's the grandiose stately pile of Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall , an exceptionally fascinating old manor house.

Birmingham, the region's public transport hub, is easily accessible by train from London Euston, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York and a score of other towns. It is also well served by the National Express bus network, with dozens of buses leaving every hour for destinations all over Britain. Local bus services are excellent around the West Midlands conurbation and very good in the Peak District, but fade away badly in amongst the villages of Herefordshire and Shropshire.

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