The Heart of England

Birmingham is the most important city in the Midlands, one of England's most productive regions, with large industrial areas such as the Black Country in the West Midlands. However, there is also a lot of farming country, for example in the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Leicestershire. This region has some beautiful countryside in the Peak District National Park, the Cotswold Hills and the Malvern Hills.

In the beautiful fruit-growing countryside of the Severn valley, are the famous cathedral-towns of Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester, plus ancient Tewkesbury.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 50