Fodor's Expert Review Lichfield Cathedral

It’s worth a detour 15 miles northeast of Birmingham to explore the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The sandstone building, beautifully sited by a tree-fringed pool, dates mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, and the Lady Chapel glows with some 16th-century stained glass from the Cistercian abbey of Herkenrode, near Liège, in Belgium. Half-timber houses surround the peaceful grounds, and the town itself has Georgian buildings as well as the birthplace (now a museum) of lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson. Highlights Tours run Monday through Saturday at 11 am and 2 pm. Visitors can also pay to tour the restored historic library (£18), accessed up 35 spiral steps, which includes many early books, including 15th-century manuscripts of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or join the Hidden Heights tours to go into the cathedral's vaulted roof spaces and enjoy rooftop views of the city. Frequent trains from Birmingham New Street take 45 minutes.