Midlands dream for off-radar break

BECAUSE we live on an island, and because every travel brochure ever printed plonks a bikini-clad siren on its cover, we tend to associate holidays with the coast.

That’s not exactly good news for the Midlands. Nor is the fact that nobody really knows where the Midlands begin and end in the first place. Mention the ‘Sunny South East’ or ‘Connemara’ and everybody knows what you’re talking about. Mention the Midlands, however, and all that’s conjured up is a boggy, amorphous, vaguely central black spot.

But here’s the thing. The Midlands are a nightmare to market, but they’re a dream for those in search of an off-radar break. They’re full of surprises (did you know Charlotte Bronte honeymooned in Banagher, or that Birr’s Great Telescope was the first to provide a glimpse of distant galaxies?), and hotspots that aren’t swamped by punters.