Birthday Girl 2025!

Reading time: 9 minutes...

Day 1 – Sunday, 23rd

Last year, it was (only) Olney, this year, we’re further afield, heading for Stoke-on-Trent. 👍

We left around 9.15 for the straightforward journey to our destination: A14 > M1 > A50.

We arrived just before 10.45, so we grabbed a quick coffee, making the best use of the time before the Gladstone Pottery Museum opened at 11. The Museum is of course home to the popular Channel 4 Programme: ‘The Great British Throwdown’, and the success of the show has certainly put Stoke back on the map as well as the Museum itself (judging by how many people arrived at the same time as us!).

After paying our entry fee of £8.50 (for younger peeps) and £6.95 (for the old ‘un) we were soon throwing ourselves into it (see what I did there?). I think the location all felt a little smaller than when seeing it on TV, but there is certainly a lot packed in here. The Pottery closed in 1970 and re-opened as the Museum just four years later. The Grant they received in 2000 from the Lottery had been put to good use, making it possible to display a lot more of their proud history than would have otherwise been possible.

We both felt they’d re-created the look and feel of the Pottery really well through the numerous exhibits, information boards and various facts and figures from when Gladstone was at the top of their game.

They had also blended ‘new’ with ‘old’ and there were various exhibits featuring works from the latest series of TGPT.

And if pottery itself isn’t your thing, then the old machines (seen running today!) that powered it all was a must-see!

Want more? There were plenty of ‘facts and figures’ boards to remind you of how much it was all worth – including the wage costs!

With the Pottery itself leaving a lasting impression, our final visit was to the on-site exhibition of… toilets!! Imaginatively named: ‘Flushed with Pride” (arf, arf!) this turned out to be the last word in WC evolution. Pretty much the A to Z of everything you wanted to know about managing crap (but in a very good way!) – and maybe some detail you didn’t!! 😄. Luckily, no stools to sit on, but there was an interactive quiz. It appealed to our slightly warped sense of humour and featured the sound of a flushing loo if you got the answer correct, plus a rather loud ‘breaking wind’ effect, if you got it wrong! ‘Tasteful’ doesn’t begin to describe it… 😄😄. Young kids loved it (and so did the older ones!).

It was strangely entertaining! Neither of us realised there was so much history associated with something that we very much take for granted these days! A suitable end to our visit here. Gladstone had been very enjoyable and even as just a day-trip, we felt that the experience was worth it. Even us, who normally cover these things in record time, took us just over 90 minutes. The signage suggested two hours for a visit, and that seems about right.

No, not thunder – our stomachs were rumbling….

Sunday Lunch

Next stop was a short drive to The Black Lake Inn for Sunday Lunch. We arrived just after 12.30 and considering it only opened at noon, we took one of the last spaces in the car-park. Once inside, we were soon shown to our table and presented with the menus. It seemed that the rest of the citizens of Stoke had got a head start on us, where most of the covers were already tucking into their main courses.

Service was swift and we had soon placed our orders.

We could see why the place was so busy. The food was delicious and the portions enormous! Even I couldn’t finish all of mine! No room even for Desserts (really???)

After topping up OUR energy supplies, it was time to do the same for EVie and we took the short three-mile drive to a new(ish) BP Pulse Charging Station located behind the Costa Coffee just off the Baths Road. These were the newer 350kW monsters, and we’d topped up an additional 100 miles in no time at all (costing us around £18).

Sad Spode

Our final stop for the day was The Spode Factory. Just like the Gladstone Pottery this was also now a Museum – its glory days also sadly past. In fact it was all a tad depressing. The whole factory area that was once ALL part of the Spode empire had gradually been reduced over the years and sold off for Bars and small businesses leaving the smallish Museum run by Volunteers.

The Museum was interesting but not on the same size and scale as Gladstone. The three staff on duty were very positive about the outlook, but the upper floor featuring some Spode’s past creations were being sold off at a fraction of the original price. To add a further insult, to fill the space, they displayed some of their competitors’ products too!

We learned that one of the larger contributors to the demise of their highly decorated products was, of all things, the dishwasher! Apparently, the shift to simpler, dishwasher-proof designs, sealed its fate (well, that and the high price point!).

An enjoyable visit, but there wasn’t much to see, and it all felt as if in a few more years, this will have all disappeared too! Ahh, the march of progress!!! 🤔

Our Accommodation: Premier Inn

Here we are for two-night sleepover at the Premier Inn, Stoke-on-Trent.

This is a newly built Premier Inn – and it showed! Everything was shiny and well-appointed. The only disappointment – their ‘Ultimate WiFi’ – proved to be an additional challenge, but the friendly and helpful staff were soon scratching their head (as was I) before, without any input by any of us, began to behave as advertised! 😊. Technology, ehh!?!? 🤔

All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable day, but tinged with some sadness – here’s why… It was my first visit to Stoke and even though the weather was brighter than expected (no rain!), the city centre itself had a very ‘grey’ and downbeat feel about it (sorry, Stoke!). Was it the roadworks that seemed to be everywhere, or the fact that there was no-one about (except in McDonald’s or in their cars)? One thing was for certain – this clearly IS the training ground for would-be F1 drivers! Everyone was tearing around at about twice the speed limit and also showing zero respect for other drivers. No, I think the ‘grey’ effect was down to the aftermath of the old pottery industry that, for so many years, had made this city famous. Now, these proud businesses just looked like they were ‘hanging on by their fingernails’. Worse still, everywhere else seemed to have caught the disease. Overall, it felt like the city had lost its mojo with a lot of boarded-up premises that all desperately needed some TLC. Well, at least our accommodation was spot on, even if the view wasn’t!! 😯

We ended our first day watching some TV and planning our second day here. Hopefully, a brighter day tomorrow, when we’re going full-on Pottery visiting! Living the dream, ehh?!?! 😊

Day 2 – Monday, 24th

Morning all! Looks like a brighter day ahead as we switched into FPM (that’s Full Pottery Mode!) with the Emma Bridgewater Factory, the Dudson Centre and Museum plus the famous Wedgwood Factory on the list. 😉🙂

After a hearty breakfast – Premier Inn style – we took the short drive to the

 

&

&