Keele university guide

Males: 49%
Females: 51%

Anushka

However, like most industrial centres of Britain, this area has undergone dramatic changes in the last few decades helping it to restore much of its rural beauty. Coal mining has all but ceased and the pottery processes no longer belch out the smoke from the kilns that gave Stoke-on-Trent the murky cloak for which it was once renowned.

Surrounded by pleasant countryside containing several attractive historic houses and crossed by various canals, Stoke-on-Trent is now a modern city providing an ideal base from which to explore.

Nearby to the west and south are the market towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stone and Eccleshall. On the outer western boundary of this area, just inside the Shropshire border lies Market Drayton, "Home of Gingerbread". To the north east of The Potteries lies an upland area on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District - the Staffordshire Moorlands. Here the visitor will find many small attractive villages with buildings of local stone and a variety of countryside from rolling pastures to wild and windswept moorland. The main town of the area is Leek, once a textile centre and now famous as the home of the Britannia Building Society. An early 19th century Gothic mansion in the small village of Alton, built for the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury and set in grounds landscaped by 'Capability' Brown, is now in ruins but it now has far more visitors than ever envisaged by its creator for it is now known to every youngster in Britain - Alton Towers! Undoubtedly one of the major 'days-out' attractions of the country, this theme park offers something for all members of the family - terrifying white-knuckle rides, gentle rides for young children, cinemas, boating on the lake, or just the gentle stroll through the still magnificent gardens.