Cleobury Mortimer, eastern main road - Photo: Richard Webb CCL

Fancy a walk surrounded by stunning scenery? Perhaps Cleobury is for you. It is just a stone’s throw from the Clee Hills which possess Shropshire’s tallest peak, Brown Clee. Named in the Middle Ages after the local lords of the manor, the town is reputed to be the birthplace of William Langland, author of the peasant-poem ‘Piers Plowman’ which railed against poverty. Not far away is Apley Hall, claimed to be PG Wodehouse’s ‘Blandings Castle’. The local church has a crooked, wooded spire. The main street is lined with pollarded trees and a mixture of timbered and Georgian houses.