Fun Things to Do in Stoke-On-Trent
Affectionately known as ‘The Potteries’, Stoke-on-Trent is a vibrant region with world-class museums, beautiful gardens, and exciting attractions. Whether it’s a hands-on pottery experience or a trip to Trentham Estate that gets your adrenaline pumping, you’ll have a blast with the family here.
Visit the Emma Bridgewater factory to see cream-coloured earthenware being cast, fettled, sponged, fired and decorated. You can also tour the quaint victorian park and enjoy a walk around picturesque lake.
1. Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
A visit to Stoke-on-Trent isn’t complete without an afternoon spent at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. Located in Hanley, one of the six towns that make up the city, it is home to outstanding collections of Natural History, Fine Art, Local History and Ceramics as well as a host of fascinating exhibitions.
A highlight of a visit to the museum is its extensive collection of Staffordshire ceramics, including the Keiller collection of 667 cow creamer jugs and the Marjorie Davies collection of 300 frog mugs. The pottery museum also includes a technical gallery that illustrates the production techniques of potters and a series of room settings that portray the social history of the city, including school rooms, pubs and a chip shop. The museum’s archaeological collections are impressive too, with a range of finds from prehistoric technologies through to daily life in the city and medieval monasticism.
The museum’s fine art collection focuses on 20th-century art and features works by the Scottish Colourists as well as notable figures such as Walter Sickert and Gilbert Spencer. In addition to these, the museum has an extensive collection of contemporary ceramics that challenge traditional divisions between pottery and fine art. The contemporary ceramics at the museum have been commissioned from leading craft makers such as Philip Eglin, Grayson Perry and Sarah Lucas.
The museum is the home of a significant number of objects from the Staffordshire Hoard, a large treasure trove that was discovered in 2009 and is now jointly owned by the museum and Birmingham Museums Trust. The Hoard is an important source of information about the lives and deaths of people living in the area at that time and a visit to the museum allows visitors to view some of these precious items for free. The museum also has a range of events and activities that offer a fun and interactive way to discover more about the city’s heritage. These include a talk entitled 1918: The Unexpected Victory by First World War military historian Andrew Robertshaw followed by a Pie and Pea Supper (7pm 10 Aug, PS10).
2. Gladstone Pottery Museum
Gladstone Pottery Museum is a working museum set in the original old pottery factory and an ideal place for a day out in Stoke on Trent with kids. Here you can learn age-old techniques in the only complete Victorian potteries factory still open to the public. You can also see how bone china tableware was made in the days when coal burning bottle kilns darkened the skies above this city famous for its ceramics.
The museum is home to a unique collection of over 15,000 objects including pottery from the Minton, Wedgwood, Royal Staffordshire and Royal Doulton factories as well as examples from other Staffordshire pottery manufacturers and items from local archaeological digs. In addition, the museum has a number of ‘have-a-go’ activities for visitors such as painting your own pottery and throwing a pot on the wheel.
There’s also a range of other exhibitions on offer that take you through the history of The Potteries and into more recent times. These include a World War II Spitfire, the world’s largest collection of Staffordshire ceramics and items from the Staffordshire Hoard.
A visit to Gladstone Pottery Museum is not to be missed by any visitor to the city and is especially popular with families. It is a museum that is passionate about its heritage and the role it plays in the lives of the people who make their living from it.
It is these people that the museum wants to inspire and educate so that they can cherish it for generations to come. That is why it has become such a successful and cherished institution, a role that it hopes to continue in years to come.
But this isn’t without controversy, as the museum has been threatened by budget cuts by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The plans, which involve closing the museum for five months each year and cutting full time staff have been branded ‘disappointing’ by heritage professionals. A petition calling on the city to keep the museum open and protect its jobs has already attracted more than 17,000 signatures. The council will consult on the proposals until 2 February.
3. Trentham Estate
Stoke-on-Trent is famous for its pottery—a skilled design trade that has thrived here since the 12th century. The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery showcases locally made ceramics, decorative arts, and a WWII Spitfire. Gladstone Pottery Museum is in a former Victorian factory. Trentham Estate features Italian gardens, a forest with monkeys, and a lake. You can also tour the city’s canals on the Heritage Canoe Trail.
The renowned award-winning gardens at Trentham are perfect for a relaxing stroll or a quiet meditative moment. Take in the therapeutic Sound Garden, walk the floral labyrinth, or ponder the Jurassic Garden. A wide variety of show gardens are also featured.
In addition to the gardens, the Trentham Estate is home to the Trentham Monkey Forest and a high ropes adventure called Treetop Adventures, plus a 119-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and Trentham Shopping Village. Combined tickets to include the Gardens, Monkey Forest, and both leisure attractions are available.
During the Second World War, Trentham served as a military regrouping camp for thousands of French soldiers (a mix of the Foreign Legion and the Chasseurs Alpins) who fled Europe after Germany’s surrender. Their arrival caused such a stir that people feared a German invasion.
Trentham’s gardens were opened to the public in 2000 after a PS120 million restoration project. Owner St Modwen Properties is reshaping the attraction into a destination that avoids noisy theme park-like attractions in favor of “authentic experiences” for all ages.
Located on the south edge of town, Trentham Gardens is an easy drive from downtown or Hanley railway station. There’s plenty of free parking on site. If you’d like to ride the bus, the 101 or X1 run to the Gardens.
There’s plenty to see in this industrial city formed by combining six separate towns. Round up the family and visit The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Staffordshire University, and St Giles Church. Skip the line-book your tickets online in minutes and enjoy a stress-free day out in Stoke-on-Trent. One Key members save 10% or more on select activities. Book now and pay later with no cancellation fee.
4. Heritage Canoe Trail
As part of Stoke-on-Trent’s European City of Sport 2016, the Heritage Canoe Trail has been created for people of all abilities to enjoy a unique section of waterway. The Trail follows hot on the heels of Stoke-on-Trent born canoe slalom athlete Joe Clarke winning Olympic gold in Rio, and features special markers to guide paddlers along the 20-mile canal-based route. It starts at Westport Lake in the heart of Burslem, the ‘Mother Town’ of The Potteries, and passes by Middleport Pottery, home of the BBC TV Great Pottery Throw Down and Emma Bridgewater Factory and Cafe, Churnet Valley Steam Railway, and historic canal-side pubs.
The NFCT (Northern Forest Canoe Trail) was once a life-sustaining artery for Native Americans, who traveled back and forth along its 740-mile length to trade supplies. Today, the trail is a recreational treasure that helps connect us to our history and nature. The Trail reflects this spirit by ensuring that campsites are not located near sacred burial grounds, and highlighting the importance of the watersheds on the map.
In addition, the NFCT offers a range of educational programs and guided tours, and it has worked with indigenous communities to ensure that its facilities, including campgrounds and campsites, respect the spiritual significance of burial sites and sacred waters. The NFCT also has worked with land managers to create land use policies that honor the significance of rivers and other waterways in communities across the region, a practice it continues to promote.
In the same vein, the Heritage Canoe Trail has been developed to raise awareness of Stoke-on-Trent’s rich industrial past, while introducing more people to paddling as an outdoor activity. A key aspect of the Trail is the inclusion of a “Barfuss” trail, a concept created by Bavarian priest Sebastian Kneipp in the late 19th century, where visitors remove their shoes and socks and walk over different surfaces including woodchip, pebbles, and mud to stimulate the soles of their feet and reconnect them with nature. Visitors to the Heritage Canoe Trail will be able to experience this by taking a guided tour from the PHS’s Etruria Junction based at Westport Lake.
