ROCK STAR! WONDERS OF THE BLACK COUNTRY

Home to more than one million people, the Black Country is a swathe of housing estates, shopping centres and office blocks spread across the West Midlands metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Yet seen from a satellite, these 138 square miles look much greener than you might imagine. All over the Black Country, leafy oases erupt through the concrete crust, making precious wildlife reserves. And beneath the earth’s surface, there are other wonders to discover.

In fact, such are the natural and geological riches of the area that in July, the Black Country successfully secured UNESCO Global Geopark status. That means the Black Country takes its place alongside 161 geoparks around the world, including spectacular landscapes in the Alps, the High Atlas mountains of Morocco and the