Birmingham
This West Midlands urban sprawl chugs onward, from industrial beginnings into a prominent metropolitan services hub. With swagger and chic, the home of the Mini Cooper, Black Sabbath and the infamous Peaky Blinders has a knack for mingling the spectrum of rural and urban, suffused with parks, botanical gardens together with nightlife at the Arcadian and Digbeth areas. Stolid yet stylish, Birmingham highlights the best of city living.