Trentham Estate

Jennifer Kozyra

5 hours ago

4 min read

Trentham Estate, just outside Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, is a great place for a day out with something for everyone. There is the stunning gardens with a large lake you can stroll around, the Italian Garden full of plants and a children's playground. At Trentham Monkey Forest where you can walk among free-roaming monkeys. There’s also a lovely shopping village with independent shops, cafes, and places to grab a bite to eat. Whether you’re after nature, fun, or just a chill day browsing and eating good food, Trentham’s got it all.

Trentham Gardens
Trentham Gardens
Trentham Gardens

Top Info

⏰ Open from 8am

🌼 Explore the gardens and walk around the lake

🛝 Children's Playground and Barefoot Walk

🥪 Picnics allowed

😃 Seasonal events

🍔 Grab lunch in one of the many restaurants & cafes

🚢 Boat Ride on the lake

♿ Fully Accessible

🐕 Dog Friendly

👶 Pushchair friendly

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly

🚗 Free Car Park

🎶 Summer concerts

🎟 Annual Pass available

🌼 Visit the Garden Centre

👜 Shop at Trentham Shopping Village

🎡 Have a ride on Trentham's Big Wheel

🐒 Visit Monkey Forest

🌎 Stone Rd, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 8JG

🎟 Book your visit now & save 10% off admission prices! 👉

🌏https://trentham.co.uk/

Trentham Estate Gardens
Trentham Estate Gardens
Trentham Estate Gardens

🌳 The Gardens

The gardens have a fascinating story, originally laid out centuries ago, they were shaped by some of the biggest names in landscape design. Capability Brown gave the place its sweeping lake and naturalistic views back in the 1700s, while Sir Charles Barry later added grand Italian terraces and fountains in the 19th century. For a while, the gardens fell into decline, but a huge restoration project in the early 2000s brought them back to life.

Trentham Gardens
Trentham Gardens
Trentham Gardens

The flower boarders really are something and change through out the year so you can visit at different times in the year and see different displays. With Tulips during their bulb Festival in Spring are my favourites and really do put on a show.

Trentham Lake Walk
Trentham Lake Walk
Trentham Lake Walk

🥾 A Stroll Around Trentham Lake

One of my favourite parts of Trentham is the gorgeous lake right in the middle of the gardens. It’s absolutely stunning and it’s over a mile long. We always enjoy a lovely walk all the way around (it’s about 4km in total), its fully pathed and an easy route to follow.

There’s loads to see as you go, wildflowers, woodlands and little islands dotted across the water. The whole place is buzzing with wildlife too and the metal fairy sculptures hidden along the path are a brilliant touch. We loved spotting them as we walked.

There are plenty of benches if you need a sit down and about halfway round there is the Lakeside café where we always stop for a hot drink or ice cream, a very necessary reward if you ask me.

It’s totally doable even for little legs, with fairies to spot and the promise of ice cream it even makes me want to walk around it on every visit.

Trentham Gardens Playground
Trentham Gardens Playground
Trentham Gardens Playground

🛝 Children's Playground

We’ve been to loads of playgrounds over the years, but the one at Trentham Estate really is something special. Even though my kids are a bit older now, they still had an absolute blast on our most recent visit, especially on the bigger bits of equipment. They loved the swings and spent ages on this spinning contraption that had them laughing their heads off.

Children's Play Area
Children's Play Area
Children's Play Area

There’s a great mix of stuff to climb, slide down, and balance on, with wooden assault courses and big slides that really kept them busy. The huge sandpit is perfect too, with a canopy over it to give some shade, such a nice touch on sunny days.

Sand pit in toddler area
Zip line in play area

🛝 Toddler Area

And even though we didn’t use the toddler area, I had a peek and it looked amazing. It’s big, well laid out, with lots to play and explore, it has a wooden pirate ship for little imaginations to run wild.

Trentham Barefoot Walk
Trentham Barefoot Walk
Trentham Barefoot Walk

👣 Barefoot Walk

The girls soon discarded their shoes and socks and went off to painfully take on the barefoot walk. Testing their feet and their senses by walking across bumpy stones, soft sand, rough bark and smooth wood, luckily it hadn't rained in a while so the mud pit was dry so no dirty feet to contend with.

But don't worry, if your kids feet do get muddy there is a place to wash their feet right by the end of the barefoot walk.

🎃🎄🌞 Seasonal Events

Trentham Estate are great for putting extra events and activities on through out the year. With garden trails for the school holidays, theatre shows, Halloween Festival and Live Music in the summer. There always seems to be something new to go and see.

Halloween at Trentham
Halloween at Trentham
Halloween at Trentham

Halloween at Trentham

With Live music and acts on the stage, a carved pumpkin trail, spooky decorations, mad science shows, fairground rides, face painting and panto to enjoy.

🎡 Trentham Big Wheel

Before heading home, we couldn’t resist a ride on the big Ferris wheel! At £6 per adult, £4 per child, or £18 for a family, it was well worth it for the stunning views over the lake, gardens and shoppers below.