Uttoxeter is a fine traditional English market town, proud of its links with agriculture. Although the weekly animal sales are history, many families still earn their living from the land.

The town was the place were Lichfield born Dr Samuel Johnson, author of the first proper dictionary, staged a celebrated penance and stood out in the rain for refusing to help out at his father’s bookstall. A monument to the event still stands in Uttoxeter’s Market Square.