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10 Awesome Things to do in Alton Towers
Alton Towers is one of the most popular theme parks in the UK and attracts millions of visitors each year. If you're planning your first visit, you might be wondering what to expect and what are the best things to do in Alton Towers. In this blog, we'll take a closer...
What is a B&B and How it Differs to a Hotel
What is a B&B? Is it the same as an AirBnB? What's the difference between a Hotel and a Bed & Breakfast? Therese are all great questions. First of all, let's get one thing out of the way. AirBnB is a company that sells accommodation. It does not own any...
8 Great Things to do Near Alton Towers
Alton Towers Alton Towers is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK, drawing millions of visitors from all over the world each year. But while the theme park may be the main draw for many visitors, there is much more to see and do in the...
Roller Skating For The Over 50s
You’ve Got To Love The 80s A funny old decade, the 80s. Women were encouraged to don shoulder pads that would put an American Footballer to shame, and men were allowed to wear heavy Aran jumpers, tuck them into their blue jeans and finish off the whole ensemble with...
Walking The Monsal Trail and Chee Dale
Where to Park We started our walk from the Miller's Dale car park. ///serves.vibrate.ribcage If you use the postcode you'll end up in the wrong place, so we always like to use what3words, a fabulously simple navigator that will take you to any spot on earth with...
Cycling Near The Roaches in Staffordshire
Most of our cycling routes are easily manageable, but this one is a bit more extreme. Suited mostly to those nutters that can cycle up 40 degree muddy slopes and down hills at serious speed. If that sounds like you. Read on! As per the ViewRanger map above, we parked...
Cycling The Manifold Valley
Where is the Manifold Way? If you have your own bikes, the best place to park is in the Peak District Waterhouses Car Park. This is just behind Ye Olde Crown Hotel on the A523. If you use the what3words app, you can't fail to find it, or anything else for that matter....
David Walliams Gangsta Granny Ride
2021 sees the long-awaited opening of the Gangsta Granny ride at Alton Towers. This ride is based on the best selling book by David Walliams, he of "I'm a lady!" fame, swimming down the Thames and a bunch of other stuff. Oh, I forgot X Factor. Yeah, that too. Here's a...
Walking Staffordshire – The Churnet Valley
In the mistaken belief that things would probably be a lot drier in the woods, we decided to venture up Cotton Dell – a delightful wooded valley between the mayhem of Alton Towers and the tranquillity of Oakamoor. We were probably still a week or two away from the...
Staffordshire Walks – Oakamoor & Whiston
The beauty of living where we are is the ability to walk in any direction, from our front door, and find ourselves in fantastic countryside. If you use the brilliant (and usually free) ViewRanger phone app, you can follow the route from here. Just across the road...
A Visit to Carsington Water
In keeping with my unhealthy interest in the weather, it struck me today that I wasn't sure where the term "Indian Summer" came from. I'd always imagined it was something to do with India and the fact the weather improved in September after the monsoons. But no,...
The JCB Story
The JCB Story Some of you may know that JCB (of yellow digger fame) are based just up the road from us. If you’ve driven to Alton Towers via Rocester, the chances are you’ve passed their World Headquarters – a huge shed-like building with very picturesque lakes out...
Drone Footage of The Roaches
Given that absolutely nothing is happening at The Laurels, in respect of fixing things that is, and that the weather was dry and warmish, we decided to take a trip to The Roaches. This isn't, as you may suspect, some hideous place where six-legged insects inhabit the...
Well Dressing
When I was first told about well dressing, I imagined a group of immaculately groomed lovies in suits and frocks. As it turns out, well dressing is pretty much as it sounds - dressing up wells. Just up the road from us is the picture-postcard village of Tissington...
Fantasy Wire Fairies – Wish Maker
Those of you who've stayed with us already will probably have noticed the beautiful sculpture that greets you, on your way to reception. What you won't have seen, of course, is how she's actually made. During lockdown, thanks to COVID-19 we've spent a lot of time...
Kingfishers and the Caldon Canal
This sounds like a bit of a QI question, but did you know Kingfisher feathers are actually brown in colour and not blue? Their vivid colour is actually iridescence, not pigment – the pigment is brown. Interference between different wavelengths of light reflected from...
Alton Towers Roller Coaster Restaurant Review
Dining With a Twist You may well have been unfortunate enough to see the odd (in many ways) video of people trying to eat and drink on a roller coaster, or the Big Dipper as us oldies used to call it. These things rarely, if ever ended well, usually resulting in the...
A History of Oakamoor & The Churnet Valley
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTEREST AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT The Churnet Valley has a long history of industrialisation and exploitation of local minerals. Local supplies of iron ore (mined from the area to the north-west of Oakamoor), charcoal (from the immediate wooded hills and...
Why is There Money in Trees in Dovedale?
Money, they say, doesn't grow on trees. I have to tell you, that it most certainly does. Well, around here it does anyway. Before you all jump in your cars and descend on our green and pleasant bit of the country, let us explain. The money, in this case, coins, are...
A Walk Around Ilam (9 Miles)
For some reason, we decided it would be a good idea to do a 9-mile circular walk from the beautiful village of Ilam as our starting point. Ilam is pronounced 'Eye lamb' by the way and not 'Ill am' as I first thought. Such stupidity will get you in trouble with locals,...
