Cheshire is the nearest English county to north Wales. You come down out of the hills of Wales onto the Cheshire plain - a rolling area of pastures and meadows with the occasional hill or range of hills adding variety to the scenery.
Cheshire is rich is black and white half-timbered buildings, and possibly the greatest concentration of these is in the county town of Chester, a city with a long and fascinating history. It is also a tourist trap of not inconsiderable dimensions; in summer the streets are ringing with American accents, but summer or winter you also hear plenty of Welsh spoken, for Chester is the nearest big shopping centre to north-east Wales.