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• Biddulph Grange Garden

This amazing Victorian garden was created by James Bateman for his collection of plants from around the world. A visit takes you on a global journey from Italy to the pyramids of Egypt, a Victorian vision of China and a re-creation of a Himalayan glen. The garden features collections of rhododendrons, summer bedding displays, a stunning dahlia walk in late summer and the oldest surviving golden larch in Britain, brought from China in the 1850s. The Geological Gallery shows how Bateman reconciled geology and theology. Travel through time as the gallery depicts the creation story.

 

Location: Grange Road, Biddulph, Staffordshire ST8 7SD

Telephone: 01782 517999

National Trust website: Biddulph Grange Garden

Email: biddulphgrange@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

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• Moseley Old Hall

This atmospheric Elizabethan farmhouse conceals a priest’s hole and hiding places, in one of which Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The bed on which the royal fugitive slept is also on view. Follow the story of the King’s dramatic escape from Cromwell’s troops and find out about 17th-century domestic life in this historic home. In 2010, enjoy the 350th anniversary celebrations of the restoration of the monarchy. The garden has varieties of plants in keeping with the period and has a striking knot garden following a 17th-century design.

 

Location: Moseley Old Hall Lane, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV10 7HY

Telephone: 01902 782808

National Trust website: Moseley Old Hall

Email: moseleyoldhall@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

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• Shugborough Estate

The mysterious Shugborough Estate is the ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield. With rumoured connections to the Holy Grail, the 364-hectare (900-acre) classical landscape is peppered with unusual monuments. The fine Georgian mansion house, with magnificent views over riverside garden terraces, features stunning collections of porcelain. Costumed characters work in the servants’ quarters and farmstead: doing laundry, cheese making, milling, brewing and baking. In these areas the Staffordshire County Museum collections are held including reconstructed chemist shop, tailors’ shop, Victorian schoolroom and puppet collection. In addition, the newly restored walled garden grows historic varieties of fruit and vegetables.

 

Location: Milford, near Stafford, Staffordshire ST17 0XB

Telephone: 01889 881388

National Trust website: Shugborough Estate

Email: shugborough@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

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• Letocetum Roman Baths and Museum

Explore the remains of this once important Roman staging post, including mansio (Roman inn) and bathhouse.

 

Location: Watling Street, Wall, near Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 0AW

Telephone: 0121 625 6820 (English Heritage)

National Trust website: Letocetum Roman Baths and Museum

Email: letocetum@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

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• Downs Banks

A little wilderness of woodlands and heath in the heart of the Midlands.

 

Location: South of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Stone in Staffordshire

(Contact Moseley Old Hall estate office, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV10 7HY)

Telephone: 01902 782808 (General enquiries)

National Trust website: Downs Banks

Email: downsbanks@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

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• Kinver Edge and the Rock Houses

Spectacular high sandstone ridge once home to Britain’s last cave dwellers.

 

Location: On the border of Staffordshire and Worcestershire, west of Stourbridge

(Contact The Warden’s Lodge, Comber Road, Kinver Nr Stourbridge, West Midlands DY7 6HU)

Telephone: 01384 872553 (Holy Austin Rock Houses); 01384 872418 (Kinver Edge)

National Trust website: Kinver Edge and the Rock Houses

Email: kinveredge@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

(All descriptions reproduced with kind permission from the National Trust.)