In April we went for a couple of days to Stoke on Trent. We often go to the shopping village and garden center at Trentham, but never get round to visiting the gardens. We stopped two nights at the Premier inn, so we could have a leisurely time browsing round the attractions of the area. Trentham Gardens were a bit disappointing. We didn’t find two for one admission vouchers till after we’d been, so it was a bit expensive. If you had fine weather and the stamina to spend all day there it would be good value, but we ran out of energy after about 3 hours, and a heavy downpour of rain! The spring flowers were over and the herbaceous borders not grown and in flower. There were a few things out, but they lacked the Wow factor that I had anticipated. The cafe was very upmarket and we had a tasty snack. We didn’t have any grandchildren with us, so couldn’t appreciate the excellent play area and model train. The grounds themselves had an extensive wooded area round a lake, which we hadn’t the energy to walk round. There were some interesting metal fairy sculptures and I saw the first swallows of the year twittering over the lake. It was a pity the tickets options were day or season, it would have been nice to do two short visits over the weekend.
The other objective was to visit some pottery museums and factory shops. They were all well sign posted, so we found what we were looking for, despite the heavy traffic. We looked round Moorcroft first, which I admire but it is very expensive. Having seen the process of making it though, I can understand why. We did buy a small seconds item, which is proudly displayed amongst my older, inherited china.
We were given an excellent map, so were able to find the Dudson factory outlet, over the road from Moorcroft, were we bought some every day items. The last one I wanted to see was Emma Bridgewater. The factory looked very old, in contrast to the bright modern designs. I bought a bird mug to go with my collection, featuring nuthatches.
The hotel was very handily placed to everywhere, and clean and spacious, as you expect Premier Inns to be. We had the meal deal of a three course evening meal and breakfast, which my husband appreciated, but was far too much food for me!
A pleasant break, and still more potteries to see – we’ll have to go back!
