Lichfield is the 13th UK City I've visited of the 69 cities in the UK Cityscape's project, it's one of the smallest cities in the UK with a population of around 32, 219 (at the time of the 2011 census) but don't let it's small size stop you from visiting because it's beautiful, it's really very beautiful and steeped in history, for example the creator of the dictionary, Dr Samuel Johnson, was born in Lichfield as did the father of Charles Darwin and of course if you love Cathedrals it's home to the incredibly beautiful Lichfield Cathedral which really does impose on their city landscape.

I spent around half a day in Lichfield, I might have been able to stretch it out a little longer but it's not a city you could entertain the kids for days in but of course you're only a half hour on the train from Birmingham New Street station so it's the perfect destination for a day trip.

It really is a very pretty city with lots of listed buildings (over 230 of them) and the streets are a joyous amble amongst quaint little shops, coffee houses and restaurants as well as some of the bigger named stores which are in the newer buildings.

I recommend lunch at the Tudor of Lichfield, delicious food in historic surroundings at a reasonable price, what more could you ask for?!

One of the things I did while in Lichfield was took a trip up one of the spires of the St Marys Centre,which is home to the Lichfield Heritage Centre, the views of Lichfield and the Cathedral are amazing from up there and I want to say a personal note of thanks to Derek Lloyd who was my tour guide, amazing man who's family heritage lies in Lichfield, even better than I was the only one on the tour so I had all of that knowledge to myself.

Shall we see the images of Lichfield?

I love this, can you imagine going out of your front door every day and having this enormous beautiful building at the end of your street?

This bottom image is the official UK Cityscapes image because it just dominates the skyline of beautiful Lichfield.

Birmingham, City 12/69 in the UK cityscapes Project

The thing about Birmingham dear reader is that a lot of people think they know all about it, they don't like it and when I asked for people to choose their least favourite city they chose Birmingham.

Birmingham is City 12/69 in the UK Cityscapes project

I've just spent the last couple of days in Birmingham and it's busy, crowded but it's also beautiful and steeped in history, there's do much to do that it's a place where you could safely entertain kids of any age for several days and if like me you aren't a driver then worry not as everything is packed into one big city centre.

Birmingham has a population of around 1,085,400 (At the time of the last census in 2012) and I think it definitely feels like the buildings are layered very closely together in parts of the city but there are parts which are much more rural and beautiful and did you know that there are more trees in Birmingham (over 6 million) than there are in Paris, it's also rumoured that there are more miles of canal than in Venice but that depends on who you speak to or what you read.  Did you also know that Lawn Tennis was first played in Birmingham, yes it was in 1865!

I stayed with Rob and Sarah 2 wedding photographers in Birmingham, they live around half an hour away in green and pleasant lands surrounded by the Lickey Hills, I'm so lucky to have friends all over the country and in fact when I reached Birmingham I was expertly guided around by James an amazing portrait photographer in Birmingham.  It's always a pleasure when you meet someone so enthusiastic about their city that they have so much to show you, we walked for literally miles, which is probably a good thing as when I finally stopped walking on Wednesday my knee decided it was going to make my life an agony, consequentially I'm now wearing a full on knee support, fashion at its highest!

I think the thing I loved the most about Birmingham was the canal which basically runs through the middle of the city, I even went on a Barge for a recreational trip out to leafy Edgbaston, you must take an hour to take a pleasure cruise on a canal which has been featured in the 1970's musical Take Me High, a musical starring Cliff Richard in which he invents the Brum Burger, a musical about a burger bar was never going to be the biggest success really, what's next I hear you ask, Mcdonalds the Musical?

the canal also featured in the classic soap opera Crossroads and I do believe the voice narrating the tour was that of Paul Henry who played hapless handyman Benny for many years.

Of course one of the first things you think of when you mention Birmingham is the cadburys chocolate factory, sadly I didn't have time to visit or maybe it's just as well as Looby and Abigail wouldn't have been impressed if I didn't take them!

shall we see some photos then?

I love the Birmingham Library building, in fact in all of my UK Cityscape travels so far I think it's my favourite new building

I loved the gardens that they have on top of the library building, a great use of space

The Bullring is another piece of new and quirky architecture that I love, it's a bold statement on the landscape and you know how I like a bold statement

This is the official UK Cityscapes Image from Birmingham, the rest are of course Postcards from the City

This is the inside of Birmingham Cathedral, incredibly beautiful building

The view from the Lickey Hills on the outskirts of Birmingham

I had to end of an image of the bull really!

If you've enjoyed this post please do stick around for the next one which is Lichfield, City 13/69 in the UK Cityscapes project