Staffordshire

Located in the north midlands Staffordshire borders Birmingham to the south, Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, and Warwickshire to the south and Shropshire to the west.

We visited the small rural town of Gnosall on the Shropshire Union Canal with it's for the “annual” Gnosall Canal Festival in July 2022. The canal itself is well worth a visit with several interesting tunnels and, of course, small pleasant pubs along the towpath.

Including the amazing “Boat Inn” (on “Wharf Road” with it's amazing views over the canal and small canal-side dining areas.

The festival, unsurprisingly, takes place along the canal and in a local pub car park. Parking for the festival was in a nearby field. It consisted of historical boats, old working canal boats being refurbished, many by volunteers…

There were also “trade boats” selling all manner of goods including crafts, antiques, honeys and jams, books, etc. A nearby pub car park was used for several marquees with various canal and other charities as well as live local entertainment…

There were free 45 minute boat tours on a small “day boat” offered that went quite some distance down the canal, out of the town and into the countryside. These tended to run irregularly due to boat traffic and other delays in getting the boat around.

Stoke on Trent is the famous home of several pottery manufacturers as part of the area known as “The Potteries” including Wedgwood, Moorcroft, Aynsley, Burleigh, Dudson, Emma Bridgewater, Portmeirion, Spode, Royal Doulton, and Royal Stafford. I can't say I am a huge fan of the town with an area surrounding the town centre fairly deprived.

The concrete-y town centre is largely pedestrianised and is dominated by The Potteries Centre. There are a series of car parks around the area including one in the shopping centre.

See also Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

One of my favourite theme parks in the UK is the local Alton Towers, but of course there are a number of other things to see.

Located in Stoke on Trent, the Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre may be small but it is well worth a visit for fans of amazing pottery.

There is a good sized showroom selling many of their current pieces though with videos and displays talking about the history of the factory. They have a small museum as well with examples from the many years the pottery has been made. Today most of the work is done at a second site nearby, leaving the original factory for the shop, tours and the less artistic aspects of production.

Fascinating factory tours are offered twice weekly, on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Bookings are highly recommended and note that photography is not allowed on the tour. The tour takes you through the entire process from the preparation of the clay and molds all the way to the shaping, lining, painting/glazing and firing. It is amazing to see that all of this still done by hand which largely explains the price.

Located six miles south east of Leek, the Peak Wildlife Park is a small zoo with plenty of heart including several “walk throughs” where you can get up and close with the animals. In the Wallaby enclosure you can even feed them with food purchased on entry to the park. The park is roughly in two parts with the section to the right containing all of the big attraction animals: Wallabys, penguins, red pandas (new to the park), otters, alpacas, meerkats, tortoise (an oldie), polar bears (two), lemurs (several varieties), goats, chickens, deer and zebras. The section to the left is smaller but has (giant) rabbits, dik diks (small deer), tapirs, squirrel monkeys, and red squirrels.

There is not a huge variety of animals here but those that are here are quite impressive and very well taken care in generally spacious and mentally stimulating enclosures. The management are also looking at continuing to improve the park with on-going works to increase enclosure quality and sizes for their charges. There is also plenty of signage about the different animals highlighting the latest scientific information including their scarcity in the wild. Watch for the feeding times when you not only see the animals being fed but a keeper is on hand to answer any questions you might have.

There is a large car park here and pre-purchasing tickets is recommended (it is a bit pricey but running a zoo is an expensive business particularly when, like here, the upkeep of the animals is of upmost importance). There are several places to eat on-site and, of course, you exit via the gift shop which is quite heavy on stuffed toys.

Located just to the south of Stoke on Trent, a short distance from Junction 15 of the M6 is Trentham Monkey Forest. A unique year-round experience that lets you walk amongst 140+ Barbary macaques in their home in a small woodland. The monkeys are very well cared for and have babies pretty much every year. The monkey walk itself is separately enclosed in the attraction while outside there are a series of small exhibits, toilets (there are none instead the monkey walk itself), a cafeteria-style restaurant, gift shop, child play area and a few small walks in the grounds.

To see the monkeys you need to watch a short safety film (do not touch the monkeys, stay to the paths, etc) before passing through a double gate into the enclosure which is surrounded by high wire fences. You can exit and re-enter this area as often as you wish during your visit.

Throughout the walk there are signs telling you additional information about the monkeys and there are also periodic talks by the keepers throughout the day, including feeding times.

The monkeys are quite well behaved and are not bothered by all of the attention. Easy to spot, they are often very close or even the paths. A great way to get up and personal…

For further information, please see:

• Enjoy Staffordshire - Official tourism web site
• Staffordshire County Council
• Wikipedia - Staffordshire