Holiday apartment in Stoke-On-Trent: ceramics, canals and culture

Stoke-On-Trent combines a rich ceramics heritage with canals, parks, historic buildings and nature-rich routes. This heritage is particularly concentrated around pottery: museums preserve collections and original workshops, factory tours showcase traditional manufacturing methods, and at several locations visitors can work with clay and ceramics themselves.

Ceramics and culture

The Living Heritage City Trail connects seven culturally significant sites between Stoke and Hanley. The route is self-guided and takes around an hour on foot. Hanley Park contains a Grade II* listed historic landscape with a bandstand, terrace garden, pavilion, lake and Doulton Fountain.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery displays collections of fine and decorative art, costumes, local history, archaeology and natural history, as well as Staffordshire ceramics. At the Gladstone Pottery Museum, demonstrations, insights into traditional skills and original workshops are part of the offering; there are also opportunities to make and decorate pottery.

Middleport Pottery has continued producing Burleigh Pottery using traditional methods since 1889. Factory tours there show, step by step, the journey from a lump of clay to the finished ceramic piece. The mould store houses Europe’s largest collection of ceramic moulds. The site also includes the Packing House Café, which serves local specialities such as oatcakes.

World of Wedgwood also combines collection, production and hands-on creativity. Guided tours of the Wedgwood Factory explain the manufacturing process. At the Clay Studio, visitors can throw their own pot on a pottery wheel. The V&A Wedgwood Collection comprises more than 165,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts and photographs; around 3,500 objects are displayed in the purpose-built museum. From there, it is a 15-minute drive to Stoke-on-Trent railway station and a five-minute walk to the Trent & Mersey Canal Path at Bridge 104.

The Etruria Industrial Museum houses the last working steam-powered potter’s mill in Britain. The Spode Museum is located on the original factory site and displays Spode ceramics, artefacts and history, as well as demonstrations of ceramic techniques. The collection includes the Blue Room Collection of transferware. The Moorcroft Museum presents ceramic art from Art Nouveau and Art Deco through to contemporary designs; the Moorcroft Factory Tour explains techniques such as mould-making, slip casting, throwing, tube lining, hand painting, firing and glazing.

Historic sites

Ford Green Hall is a 17th-century timber-framed farmhouse built in 1624 for the local yeoman farmer Hugh Ford. The house is furnished as the home of a 17th-century yeoman farmer and displays original textiles, ceramics and furniture. The entire museum collection has been designated “Outstanding” by Arts Council England.

Tunstall Park, also known as Victoria Park, is a Grade II listed heritage park with a boathouse, boules or bowls pavilion, clock tower, Floral Hall and lodge.

Nature and routes

Westport Lake is Stoke-on-Trent’s largest body of water and consists of two lakes and a nature reserve. A level footpath of around one mile runs around the lake. Westport Lake is also an important wintering area for many waterbirds; unusual species also stop there during migration.

The Trent & Mersey Canal and the Caldon Canal run through Stoke-on-Trent and offer opportunities for walking and cycling. The Caldon Canal passes through Hanley Park and connects to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Etruria Locks. Suitable for paddlers of all experience levels, the Stoke-on-Trent Heritage Canoe Trail is a 20-mile canal-based route. The Two Saints Way, a 90-mile long-distance walking trail, also passes through the centre of Stoke-on-Trent.

The Royal Stafford Ceramic Cafe is temporarily closed until further notice.

For further orientation, the entries Stoke On Trent, Burslem are available.

For the higher-level travel overview: West Midlands.

More destinations

More places in the same destination:

Warwickshire, Sandwell, Birmingham, Dudley, Telford And Wrekin, Wolverhampton.