About Trentham Estate

The Trentham Estate, in Staffordshire, offers one of the UK’s most diverse days out with a range of leisure activities for all ages.

The fabulous, restored Trentham Gardens, at the heart of the estate, attracted over 800k visitors in 2022, making us one of the most visited gardens in the UK and the fifth most visited paid for attraction in the 2021 Visit England survey.

Trentham was Enjoy Staffordshire’s Large ‘Visitor Attraction of the Year’ in 2022; also winning an award for ‘Resilience and Innovation’ during the COVID-19 pandemic for innovation and adaptation, along with support for our local community.

We were awarded ‘Green Space of the Year’, by the iTravel Staycation Awards in 2021, in recognition of natural refuge the destination provided during the pandemic.

Owned and managed by St. Modwen, the expert developer and regeneration specialist, the 725-acre estate, which was previously owned for over 400 years by the Dukes of Sutherland, has undergone a massive regeneration programme since 2003.

More to Explore

The estate includes the famous Trentham Gardens, including the very important Italianate Gardens designed by Charles Barry in the 1830s, which have been lovingly restored using top landscape designers. The gardens feature the UK’s first ‘barefoot’ walk, as well as a fantastic children’s adventure play area and maze, and a beautiful walk around the mile-long lake, originally laid out by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in the 18th century. The estate is also home to Trentham Garden Centre and the expanded Shopping Village, a unique experience with a unique blend of independent and nationally renowned high street leading names housed in over 80 timber lodges. At Trentham is also a 119-bedroom Premier Inn Hotel and Treetop Adventures, a high rope course located on the wider estate.

Trentham is a conservation and biodiversity hotspot with the Monkey Forest offering visitors the opportunity to walk amongst 140 free roaming Barbary macaques, in a natural woodland environment for this endangered species.  Trentham boasts extensive woodlands with the formal conservation designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), with the wider estate providing grazing for rare breed herds and wild black fallow deer and most recently the reintroduction of endangered water voles.

The estate is working in collaboration with the Beaver Trust to create one of England’s largest beaver enclosures, following the granting of a license by Natural England to release a pair of endangered Eurasian Beavers into the lake. The estate plans to welcome the pair in Spring 2023 and will be introducing a range of visitor experiences, education and corporate biodiversity opportunities to learn more about the exciting wildlife on the estate.

Our Purpose

We want to grow and nurture this wonderfully special place for people, nature and wildlife to thrive.

Trentham provides a very important and special Habitat, where biodiversity can thrive due to the mix of Heathland, Water Meadow, Lowland Meadow, Woodland Pasture and is a recognised Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Our Mission is to develop a high-value unique attraction: part urban biodiversity reserve, part eco-tourism destination.

The Trentham Estate

Trentham was acquired by St. Modwen in 1996. Investing £100 million in regeneration to transform and bring listed gardens and buildings back to life. The company reinstated the extensive flower gardens and restored the historic parkland, where 10,000 native trees were planted.

Visitor attractions including Adventure Playgrounds, ‘Hide and Speak Maze’, the UK’s first Barefoot Walk, Disc Golf and a 42-seat battery-operated catamaran called ‘Miss Elizabeth’ were also introduced. This is in addition to the development of Trentham Shopping Village and Garden Centre as well an established all-year round events programme, including landmark event, Trentham live, that welcomes world renowned artists each year to a unique picturesque setting.

The Fairy ‘Wishes’ was added in 2014 to mark the 10th anniversary of Trentham’s official re-opening. This collaboration with Staffordshire wire- artist Robin Wight, led to the development of a Fairy Trail in the Gardens sculpture.  Trentham recently celebrated ‘10 years of magic’ working with Robin Wight of FantasyWire Ltd with a relaunched Fairy Quest and the installation of his synonymous trademarked sculpture, ‘Dancing with Dandelions’, plus, the publication of an exhibition guide showcasing Robin’s art that have resided at Trentham over the years.