The West Midlands is a metropolitan county located in western central England and is the second most populous county with an estimated population of over 2.8 million (2014). It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county consists of seven metropolitan boroughs: the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, and Walsall.

The county is landlocked and one of the most heavily urbanised areas in the UK. It has a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including Sutton Park, which has a number of different habitats, including wetlands, woodlands, marshes and heathlands, and has also been designated a National Nature Reserve.

There are five universities in the county; the University of Warwick, The University of Birmingham, Aston University, Keele University, Harper Adams University. The county also hosts numerous notable football clubs, including Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall. Warwickshire County Cricket Club's home ground is Edgbaston in Birmingham. Birmingham, incidentally, has more canals than Venice and more trees than Paris!