This guide is one of the Jarrold Short Walks series for all the family. These lovely little full colour guides are the ideal companion for short walks that can be enjoyed by all. Features include clear and easy-to-follow instructions; detailed Ordnance Survey Explorer mapping with the route clearly highlighted, and specially commissioned photographs. There are twenty routes to choose from, colour coded by length and difficulty; green for easy; blue for modest length with some climbing and red for more challenging walks. An introductory section gives an overview of the counties immediately surrounding the industrial and commercial heart, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, which harbour some of the most agreeable countryside in England. Rolling agrarian landscapes spread out at the foot of abrupt hills and escarpments from whose airy tops are fine views across distant plains enhanced by scattered woods and winding rivers.

The walk locations are: Kinver Edge; Clent Hills; Bewdley and River Severn; Earlswood Lakes; Middle Littleton Tithe Barn; Wilmcote and Mary Arden's house; Waseley Hills Country Park; Sutton Park; Hanbury Hall; Cannock Chase; Kenilworth; Shugborough; Alrewas to Fradley Junction; Henley-in-Arden; Sambourne to Coughton Court; Great Alne; Dudmaston; Baddesley Clinton; Brewood to Chillington Hall; Packwood House, Kingswood.

An omnibus of local walks covering the whole of Warwickshire and the West Midlands. The book is ideal for family outings and as a valuable reference book for residents wanting to explore their county on foot. It is, of course, equally valuable for visitors to the region. The wide choice of routes are spread across both counties, with approximately a third of the walks in the West Midlands. Some of the locations are Sarehole Mill; Chasewater; Clent Hills; Solihull; Sandwell Valley Park; The Leasowes and Halesowen Abbey; kingsbury Water Park; kinver Edge and Kingsford; Frankley and Bartley Reservoir; Lickey Hills and Bittell Reservoirs; Sutton Park; Dudley and Wrens Nest; Stourbridge Canal and Fens Pool; Coleshill and Maxstoke; Hay Head Wood and Barr Beacon; Brownhills Common and Wyrley Canal.

The walks vary in length from 2 to 12 miles, the majority being in the 4/6 mile range. They are listed in the contents by length, making it easy to find routes that suit your circumstances. In addition to the route descriptions, details are given of points of interest along the way, places to eat and drink and where to park the car. Sketch maps and route descriptions are on facing pages.

This book describes 22 walks ranging in distance from 5.5 to 10 miles, and all readily accessible from Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands using public or private transport. Details of the relevant bus and rail services and of car parking facilities are provided, together with useful information about the terrain and walking conditions, and of the locations of pubs and other refreshment opportunities.

This book was compiled by the Birmingham CHA Rambling Club to celebrate its ninetieth year. The walks are arranged in a clockwise direction around the West Midlands starting at Tanworth-in-Arden. Other walk locations are: Redditch and Old Yarr; Alvechurch, Rowney Green and Hob Hill; Barnt Green and Cattespool; Bromsgrove and Dodford; Rednal to Gannow; West Hagley and Harborough Hill; Blakedown and the Vale of Churchill; The Devil's Spittleful and Dowles' Brook; Hayley Green to Waseley Hills; Castle Hill and Kinver; Abbots Castle Hill; Wrottesley Park; Fairoak Valley, Cannock Chase; Lichfield and Elmhurst; Blake Street to Lower Bangley; Coleshill and Dumble Wood; Allesley to Meriden; Meriden and The Wesley Tree; Wootton Wawen and Shelfield; Yarningale Common; Danzey Green and Tanworth-in-Arden.

Following on the success of their first book, 'Waterside Walks in the Midlands', members of the City of Birmingham branch of the Ramblers' Association have now prepared another collection on a similar theme. As before, the walks feature brooks, streams, rivers, canals and pools; sometimes as a major aspect of a walk, sometimes as a feature to encounter as you ramble through some of the fine Midlands countryside.

Most of the walks are circular, the three exceptions having ample public transport to the start and at the finish. Many have short versions so you have a choice of distances ranging from 4.5 miles to 14 miles. The book provides comprehensive walking instructions, with photographs and much historical and descriptive detail, sketch maps, car parking and public transport information, together with locations of refreshment opportunities.

Locations include: Shropshire - Ellesmere Meres and canal; Alveley and River Severn. Staffordshire - Barton-under-Needwood; Shropshire Union Canal; The Sherbrook Valley. Leicestershire - Ashby Canal. Worcestershire - Harvington Hall and Blakedown; Sapey Brook; Kingsbury Waterways. Warwickshire - Draycote Water; Henley; The Alne Valley; Alcester and the River Arrow; Wilmcote. West Midlands - Rea Valley; Harborne to Hampstead.

What better way to spend a leisurely few hours than to drive to the countryside, stretch your legs and then visit a good pub for some fine food. The 40 circular routes in this book show how this can be done. Each route, starting and finishing at or near a recommended pub, is between 3 and 8 miles in length and takes the walker through some of the most beautiful scenery in England.

Shropshire offers walks from Oswestry, along part of the Offa's Dyke Path; the Stiperstone Hills, whose jagged chain of tors is a designated AONB; Ludlow, described by Sir John Betjeman as 'the most perfect town in England'; and Little Wenlock, where a walk up onto the 407m high Wrekin is a treat indeed.

Staffordshire features Alrewas, one of the most picturesque ancient villages in the county; a walk at Norbury which includes a section of the Shropshire Union Canal; and a climb up the Roaches, with many wonderful views to enjoy.

In the West Midlands there is a walk through Sutton Park, with its 2,400 acres of countryside; a walking tour of Coventry, with a fascinating blend of old and new architecture; beautiful Berkswell, along part of the Heart of England Way; and Cannon Hill Park, a conservation area which boasts wildflower meadows and a wide variety of birds.

The full walk locations are: Shropshire - Bishop's Castle; Oswestry; Stiperstone; Ruyton Xl Towns; Ellesmere Lakes; Craven Arms; Carding Mill Valley; Uffington; Ludlow; Whitchurch; Wenlock Edge; Little Wenlock; Cleehill; Eardington, near Bridgnorth; Cheswardine. Staffordshire - Norbury; Kinver; Hill Top; Brewood; Wombourne; Barlaston; Cannock Chase; Meerbrook; Abbots Bromley; Dimmingsdale; Ellastone; Grindon; Whittington; Alrewas; Tatenhill. West Midlands - Penn; Leasowes Park; Dudley; Walsall Wood; Cannon Hill Park; Sutton Park; Solihull; Marston Green; Berkswell; Coventry.

This book of Heart of England Walks gives fifty walking routes, which vary in length from 3 to 9 miles, all of which have been chosen for the variety of scenic countryside through which they pass. There is much for the walker to enjoy in the Heart of England in terms of both the historical and the natural environment. Part of the battleground in the early English wars, the region is home to some of the world's finest castles and ancient buildings. Later, the region was the setting for the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, and its canals have now become major leisure attractions. In addition, the region's Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty encompass some of the most superb walking in the UK.

The routes offer lovely walking in the Shropshire Hills, the Staffordshire Moorlands, the Clent and Lickey Hills, the Malvern Hills, Shakespeare Country, the west of Oxfordshire and the north Cotswolds. The clearly described walks offer the opportunity to visit some of the famous historic towns, villages and buildings in the area. The author has selected walks within about an hour's travel of the centre of Birmingham so that easy access is assured.

This walking guide uses the traditional, i.e. pre-1974 county boundaries, which embrace the great manufacturing cities of Birmingham and Coventry and the commuter country of Solihull. In the north there was once a coal mining area; now largely disappeared. In the south there are limestone hills that rise to over 800 feet, and the stone-built villages with fine wool churches like those a little further south in the Cotswolds.

The 30 walks included here are spread over all parts of the county and cover all aspects of its landscape and history. Routes are included in the less well-known northern and eastern areas, and in the predominantly built-up West Midlands, as well as in the more familiar and quintessential 'Shakespeare Country' of South Warwickshire, the Forest of Arden and, of course, the valley of the beautiful River Avon.

The walk locations include: Polesworth and Alvecote Priory; Kingsbury Water Park; Coleshill and Maxstoke; Hartshill Hayes and Coventry Canal; Sutton Park; Birmingham; Berkswell and Meriden; Knowle and Temple Balsall; Brinklow and Easenhall; Coombe Abbey and Birchley Wood; Newbold-on-Avon and Little Lawford; Napton on the Hill and the Shuckburghs; Earlswood Lakes; Tanworth-in-Arden; Packwood House and Lapworth Church; Henley-in-Arden and Lowsonford; Hay Wood and Baddersley Clinton; Kenilworth; Wilmcote and Aston Cantlow; Alcester, Exhall and Wixford; Stratford-upon-Avon and Shottery; Stour Valley villages; Warwick and Guy's Cliffe; Ilmington Downs; Tysoe and Compton Wynyates; Edge Hill; Burton Dassett Hills; Brailes Hill; Long Compton, Whichford and Cherington. Sketch maps accompany the route descriptions and there is a short introduction to each walk.