Is there anything to do in Staffordshire?

[bytheby]

Deliberately provocative to get you to (hopefully) come and tell me all the wonderful things that there are to do!

DH has an opportunity to work just North of Stafford for 6 weeks over the Summer. I am a SAHM with a 3 year old and we can go along for the ride. I might also persuade my parents to come for a bit too.

The catch is we have to decide very quickly (tomorrow). So what fun things can we do in the area when we won't have any friends etc to meet! If my parents come I'm also hoping to get some good food etc so hit me with the best pubs and restaurants etc.

Anything!

@Mykittensmittens

Barlaston Downs which is just outside Stone (I suspect you will be close to here) is a good dog walking area with a shallow stream, it’s national trust (free).

Stone itself is a lovely little town. No one has mentioned food. Several lovely places to eat and drink in Stone and get the parent to babysit and go to Granvilles. Also a good soft play centre (come in to play).

Lovely but between Stafford and Stone on the A34 called the wayfair.

Shugborough is also nice. Strawberry picking at Great Haywood. Walk an alpaca on a lead at wetley moor.

War memorial and national arboretum are also in the chase just outside Stafford.

Granvilles is sadly closing. It's a great restaurant thought (I live just outside Stone).

Wayfarer I think you mean on the A34, it's a great pub, also the Greyhound at Yarlet owned by the same people.

Barlaston Downs also I agree with.

I second trentham gardens and monkey Forrest also national trust properties biddulph grange is lovely. Gruffalo walk at cannock chase is great but exploring any of the chase is fun! Good Parks instafford and Lichfield. down the motorway a bit from staffs but adventure street in Dudley is well worth a visit too!

Tamworth Castle and the park
Kingsbury Water Park (technically Warwickshire)

My toddler was bitch slapped by a Barbary Macaque at the monkey forest

Tittesworth reservoir is great, lovely walk, great cafe and a huge play area. Close to Leek which is a nice place to visit.

oh and the Snow Dome

If you like something different, the last cave dwellings in England:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/travel/2020/oct/02/kinver-edge-black-country-to-tea-englands-last-cave-people

Brilliant beautiful dog walking trails:

www.forestryengland.uk/dimmingsdale

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hawksmoor

Go Ape, next to the Monkey Forrest & Trentham Gardens:

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1097116-d16639164-Reviews-Trentham_Treetop_Adventures-Trentham_Stoke_on_Trent_Staffordshire_England.html

Lots of pretty villages to visit too and you can go on a canal trip (the place is teaming with canals) through some beautiful countryside, either as a passenger or by hiring your own boat.

If you don’t mind travelling out of Staffordshire you could try Dudley Zoo, The Black Country Museum, Blists Hill in Ironbridge.
National Trust places - Shugborough, Biddolph Grange. Trentham Gardens has a bit of everything! Decent cafes/restaurants too. Weston Park is on the staffs/Shropshire border.

Wedgwood!!! DC can paint on some pottery and you can have a afternoon tea in the lovely café. Trentham Gardens is also lovely. Avoid the monkeys

You could do lots of day trips from there too. I know these are not all Staffs but as a base you could easily travel from there. To llandudno, or Shrewsbury and Chester. Cadbury's chocolate world. Chatsworth House in the Peaks.
A cycle ride along the canal in the Churnet Valley stopping off for an ice cream at Oceans in Cheddleton and a drink at the Hollybush in Denford.
Churnet Valley Railway.
Rudyard Lake. Buxton is lovely for a day out too.
Look up Gullivers Kingdom.

Stoke is a hole, but Staffs is glorious. Proper English countryside, I have family down there and love it. Trentham Gardens are glorious - it's probably worth buying a yearly pass if you're going to be there for six weeks, my family member went three times a week when the DCs were little. Eccleshall is a pretty little village with great pubs and restaurants. There's loads of play farm type things. Newcastle Under Lyme is great. Manchester and Liverpool are also close enough for day trips/overnights in a cheap hotel.

You will need a car though, the best bits are rural.

I live slightly further north in Cheshire, near Northwich and Knutsford, but the great thing about the area is where you can get to easily. The towns have all the usual shops, cinemas, pubs etc, there are local days out like farm parks etc. Facilities like gyms and pools like much of the UK. Days out like Trentham Gardens and the monkey forest. Alton towers and the splash world. The race course nearby often has shows etc.

However, you are right by the peak district amazing walking on your doorstep. You can easily get to Birmingham and Manchester. Not far from Chester and Wales. The train to London is probably about 1.5 hours.

So it is a great spot.

Lots of lovely National trust places and towns to visit in Staffordshire/Derbyshire/Leicestershire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire/Shropshire. And the beauty of the Midlands is that it's all relatively close and most takes roughly an hour or less, give or take, to get outside the county from Stoke.

(South Staffs born and bread but now living in Derbyshire)

Another vote for Trentham Gardens
Amerton Farm near Stafford
Alton Towers & Splash Landings
Water world
Biddulph Grange
Gentleshaw wildlife centre at Eccleshall
Wheelock Farm near Sandbach
Barlaston Downs
Queen's Park at Stafford
The wayfarer pub at Stone
The Swann with two necks Newcastle
The Quarter cafe in Hanley
The Rabbit Hole tearoom
Whitmore Tearoom
Blockhouse at the Sheet anchor
Ego at the Hollybush Stockton Brook
Brampton park Newcastle
Keele woods
Peak wildlife park in Leek
Dove dales not far
The Swettenham arms at swettenham also a small walk you can do next to the pub.
Knypersley reservoir
The Brownlow at Congleton
The Stafford Arms at Bagnall
DV8 in Congleton
Astbury mere
Pecks restaurant
Rudyard lake
Consall valley
Dimmingsdale walk and lunch at the ramblers retreat

Also Brereton Heaths nice for a walk just out of Congleton and there's a national trust walk in Alderhey Edge which is good but a bit further, I think it's called the Wizard walk.
Castaway play is good for little ones too.

The marina at Barton Under Needwood is a good day out. Nice shops, cafes and a cinema. It's good for little children as you can walk round the water and feed the ducks. Lots of boats to look at. Good place to walk the dog. It's very popular.

Ash End Farm,
Weston Hall for afternoon tea,
Sudbury Hall museum of childhood,
Plus everything already listed!

Roaches, moorlands, Cannock chase
Emma Bridgwater, world of Wedgwood
Pub lunches in the country- paragon group have great ones
Trampoline park, clip n climb at stone for wet days

Ah I used to live there. Peak district and Trentham.

It's ok for sox weeks. Don't ever move there.

Six weeks!

@Whammyyammy

Leave as fast as you can via the M6, that's what I'd do in staffs

The whole county? Wow.

Woseley Wildlife, Amerton farm, Lower Drayton Farm, Trentham attractions, Shugborough, Cannock Chase, Rudyard Lake, Staffs Peak District, Lichfield is lovely for shopping and lunch, Gladstone Pottery, Wedgwood, canal boat tours, memorial arboretum, Snowdome, Churnet Valley railway, Chasewater, Biddylph Grahe, the Peak District animal park, Foxfield railway, Tittesworth.

Is that big indoor water adventure place open again?

@ThePurpleCurtain you’re joking? Granville’s was the best. I’m gutted! DH and I have (had) been going there for decades. How sad!

Yes wayfarer! Although many others too. The Hollybush at Salt is fabulous!

In terms of places to eat there are lots of nice lunch stops in Staffs. It’s something I never considered until I worked outside the area and realised that tearooms with proper lovely good food are not a thing everywhere.

I am guessing you may be Stone way? So tearooms - Aston Marina (also dinner), Fletchers, Canalside, Trentham, Slaters, Whitmore, Soup Kitchen.

Dinner - Weston Hall, Moat House Acton Trussell, Swan Stafford, Saracens Head, Wayfarer, Dog & Doublet, Swan with Two Necks lots more a little further afield.

Also oatcakes and milkshakes in Stone/Stafford or if you follow the B’Oatcake boat and catch up with where they are - our locally delicacy is a must!

[quote Mykittensmittens]@ThePurpleCurtain you’re joking? Granville’s was the best. I’m gutted! DH and I have (had) been going there for decades. How sad!

Yes wayfarer! Although many others too. The Hollybush at Salt is fabulous![/quote]
The lovely thatched Hollybush has stayed closed after the landlord died just before lockdown last year.