Peter Hawcroft's Beautiful Bromsgrove, out 30 September at £15.95, gives a grid reference for every one of its 150 photos so you can find each view yourself.

A Bromsgrove runner and walker who has spent nearly 50 years in the town has turned the views he stopped for into a book. Beautiful Bromsgrove: Landscapes Through The Lens, by Peter Hawcroft, is published on Wednesday 30 September by Redditch publisher Brewin Books, priced £15.95.

It holds 150 colour photographs of the countryside around the town, and every one comes with a grid reference, so a reader can go and stand where Peter stood.

Views most people have not seen

The publisher says Peter’s running and walking took him to places that “other Bromsgrove residents may not necessarily have seen”, and that he “has often found himself stopping to appreciate a view and returning later to capture it on camera.”

A field of yellow oilseed rape in flower, with a red-brick cottage on the left, trees behind and a rider on a brown horse on a track at the right
A rider on a track beside a field of yellow oilseed rape, one of the photographs from the book. Photo: supplied by Brewin Books

The pictures were taken across the seasons and at different times of day. Brewin Books lists what they cover as “the North Worcestershire Hills, arable land, woods, parkland, canals and country lanes.”

The point of the book, in the publisher’s words, is that “you don’t have to live in a National Park or photographic hotspot to be surrounded by stunning landscapes.”

A grid reference on every photograph

The grid references are there to get people out of the house. Clare Brown of Brewin Books wrote to us that they are included “to help and encourage people to seek these places out”, with each one there “to assist the reader in finding the location where the photograph was taken.”

A church with a square tower on top of a steep wooded hillside in autumn colours
A church tower above a wooded hillside, from the book. Photo: supplied by Brewin Books

Alongside the photographs is a selection of poems that, as Brewin Books puts it, “celebrate the countryside in all its glory.”

Small sailing dinghies drawn up on a bank at the edge of still water, with boat sheds and tall trees behind
Dinghies pulled up at the water's edge, from the book. Photo: supplied by Brewin Books

What it means for you

If you walk, run or cycle around the town, this is a book of places to go, with the map references already worked out. It is a paperback of 136 pages, 215mm by 235mm, ISBN 978-1-85858-798-1. You can order it from the Brewin Books page for Beautiful Bromsgrove, which listed it at £15.95 when we checked on 27 September, or by phoning Brewin Books on 01527 854228.

Looking for something to do outdoors this autumn? Our things to do in Bromsgrove page has more ideas.