Warwickshire lies at the very heart of England, and its popular image is one of a gentle and well-wooded countryside dotted with attractive market towns, medieval castles, old manor houses and highly photogenic villages of black and white thatched cottages. This is true for large parts of the county, particularly the Avon valley and Forest of Arden, known all over the world by the name of Warwickshire's most famous son. But there is far more than the Tudor villages of Shakespeare's time. 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 a coal mining area - now largely disappeared. In the south there are limestone hills that rise to over 800ft, and 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 (including a walk through the city centre of Birmingham), 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.