'We pass through the Midlands, we don't know it'

Areas in the Black Country have been highlighted in a new book shining a light on underappreciated places in the UK.

Wolverhampton, Dudley and Walsall feature in a chapter of Where Tourists Seldom Tread, Postcards from Bypassed Britain, written by Chris Moss.

The author said there was "great" architecture in Wolverhampton, which had "probably the best pop art collection in the UK", while he also praised the Black Country Living Museum [BCLM] and a Walsall art gallery.

Moss, from Lancashire, said he thought many people from the north "often pass through the Midlands, because we don't know it".

Wolverhampton had been a city for a quarter of a century, but "still has a feel of a kind of big major town", the writer told BBC Radio WM.

"I was blown away by The Posada... [a] beautiful old pub in Wolverhampton and when I was there, I found out Lawrence of Arabia was a regular back in the day."

Moss said he also "popped to the art gallery next door".

There he bumped into an artist from the area, Ed Isaacs, who "does sketches" of the city, and spent time with members of a local walkers in a group.

Moss said he "had low expectations" of the BCLM "because I'm not a big fan of museums", but described the Dudley attraction as amazing and "a very, very special place".

The author also highlighted the statue of former England and Manchester United footballer Duncan Edwards, who died in hospital 15 days after being involved in the Munich air disaster in 1958, in his home town of Dudley.

Moss said: "I was born in '66, so I missed the big 60s, 70s football stories, but the Duncan Edwards statue sent me researching Duncan's role in British football."

Walsall's New Art Gallery "must be one of the UK's best modern art galleries", said Moss. "The building won prizes, but the contents inside, the collection, [is] absolutely superb".

"I did a fantastic canal walk, from Dudley to West Brom. So, I just think there's so much in these places."

The travel journalist said that on Monday he had seen people "flocking to Blackpool, going to York, going to London".

"These are the places that everyone goes to.... but the thing is all the trains go through a lot of towns and no-one gets off," he said.

"Crewe is the archetypal one. Everyone goes through Crewe. I bet hardly anyone's been to Crewe, except to the station."

The author added the town had "a really good railway heritage centre", a "beautiful butter market... like a classic kind of food market" and interesting architecture.

"I think that a lot of northerners like me, we may have gone to London for university or to Scotland, but... we don't really know exactly what [the Midlands] is."

Travelling for his work was "a chance to kind of address my own prejudices as well, 'cos I've been bypassing Birmingham New Street all my life".

"The more you walk, the more you see," he added.

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