Staffordshire is known principally for the area around Stoke-on-Trent known as the Potteries, home to such names as Wedgwood and Spode. The main reason for tourists coming to the county is rather more modern. Alton Towers is arguable the best-known theme park in England - it certainly claims to be the largest.
The small city of Lichfield delighted me one the one occasion I visited. The centre consists of many half-timbered buildings which house more independently-owned shops than I have seen elsewhere for many years but it is rather a pity that so many of these beautiful old buildings have been pulled apart so that plate-glass shop fronts could be installed. Lichfield cathedral is the only one in England with three spires, these being known as the Ladies of the Vale. Not far from Lichfield is Cannock Chase, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
To the east, the county just encroaches on the Peak District with the rocky ridge known as the Roaches being in Staffordshire. Mermaid's Pool, our photograph this week, is in the Roaches and is the subject of a legend according to which it has a mysterious link with the Atlantic ocean and is poisonous to animals and fish. Legend has it, too, that the mermaid appears but once a year on Easter Eve at midnight and anyone who sees her is either given the gift of immortality or drawn into the depths of the pool to face their doom.
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