Trentham Gardens

Trentham Estate, located near the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. 

Trentham Gardens are formal Italianate gardens, part of an English landscape park. The gardens are set within a large area of woodland. Together these currently together cover some 300 acres (1.2 km²). The gardens were designed as a serpentine park by Capability Brown from 1758 onwards, overlying an earlier formal design attributed to Charles Bridgeman. Trentham Gardens are now principally known for the surviving formal gardens laid out in the 1840s by Sir Charles Barry, which have recently been restored. In 2012 the Trentham Estate was selected as the site of a Royal Diamond Jubilee wood, and a new woodland of 200,000 native oak trees will be planted on the Estate.

 The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At the time it was a royal manor, with a value of 115 shillings. An Augustinian Priory originally occupied the site, followed by a convent Trentham Priory occupied land on the Trentham estate from the 11th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries

 The circular lakeside walk all the way around it, and you’ll have walked for over two miles! It takes you aside the River Trent, by the bird hide, through the cascading weir, past the Lakeside Cafe, along atmospheric woodland trails and through the annual meadow with giant dandelion sculptures.

 There are several specific projects in hand including the encouragement of ladybirds, barn owls and bees to thrive here.

 Monument Walk

The country house of which parts remain dates from 1833–42, and was designed by Charles Barry, while he was working on the rebuild of the Palace of Westminster. He was commissioned by George Granville Leveson Gower, Duke of Sutherland. The focal point of the building was a 100 feet (30 m) square campanile clock tower

 The gardens were the site of the Trentham Ballroom, which opened in 1931 and closed in 2002. During the Second World War it was used by the Bank of England. In the 1960s and 1970s many dance, rock and pop bands performed at Trentham Ballroom, including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, and Led Zeppelin. The Ballroom also hosted degree ceremonies for North Staffordshire Polytechnic.

The Italian Garden with one of the largest contemporary perennial plantings in Europe.

The remains of Trentham Hall, namely the Grand Entrance and Orangery, were listed on 24 January 1967. Their listing was amended on 25 April 1980. They are currently Grade II*-listed

 Perseus & Medusa