The city of Lichfield is Staffordshire's premier heritage city. It has a wonderful selection of places to stay, eat and shop combined with incredible architecture and places of historical interest. The area has a great events calendar including the Lichfield Festival.

Cathedral and Close are finely set in the ancient City of Lichfield. To the south is St John’s Hospital, once a Hospice for pilgrims visiting the Cathedral. Walk from here into the city and you pass the site of the Friary, suppressed in 1538. In the Market Place, Johnson’s Birthplace stands next to St Mary’s Church, which is now the Heritage Centre, exhibiting much of the city’s colourful history.

Walk eastwards, past St Michael’s Church, with its very large churchyard, and you come to St Chad’s Church, built on the site of the ancient well used by St Chad in the 7th century. From here you can see, across the Stowe Pool, the three spires of the Cathedral pointing to Heaven, but the earthly focus of 1300 years of Christian history.

For more information about a trip to Lichfield, logon to www.visitlichfield.co.uk or for recommendations please visit The Best Of Lichfield.