We were here in the Black Country of the United Kingdom, in 2012 two years ago and were happy to revisit favourite places and to discover more. The weather is better, now in late Spring, quite warm and pleasant. After an extremely wet wild winter with flooding in many areas, the grass was brilliantly green and lush.

Wildflowers abound, along the roadsides and sprinkled through the fields. Gardens large and small displayed the greenest of neat lawns and a profusion of flowers.

We were based in the Midlands but close to the borders of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire and our travels took us in and out of these counties.

Three weeks later we moved to London, staying in Hampstead and Bloomsbury, before leaving for Europe.