Best walk in Stoke-On-Trent, YAP Finale, Part 3

1.0 Introduction

Welcome back to week 12 I think of the YAP series, we had quite the run so far, thank you to everyone who has kept up with the series it means a lot. But aside from the pleasantry's, I was back for another weekend in the luscious ends of Stoke-On-Trent and I thought to myself, it's time for the YAP finale of whether Stoke-On-Trent hits the vibe. So I went on one last trip around to find the lucrative hotspots, I say one last trip yet I live there so I'm making it up as we go on. As I was looking, I stumbled on a old trip that I used to go on as a child, to a place called Dimmingsdale, hence I thought, F*** it lets go.

2.0 The Cursed Oak

OOoooooooo, I would have thought that the scariest place you could go in Stoke is Hanley (bu dum tsh, inside Stoke joke) yet I'm wrong. One of the walks I went on over the weekend was one around the nice quite town of Alton, a lot of you may know Alton by hearing about Alton Towers. But not many know of the history of the cursed chained OAK. If you dare go to Dimmingsdale valley, you will encounter a few nature walks there but you may also encounter a certain tree which is well different from the rest. Urban Legend suggests that in the 1830’s a beggar woman asked the Earl of Shrewsbury for some money, the Earl was in his coach, following Earl’s Drive through Dimmingsdale into Barbury Gutter, to enter the Alton Towers Estate. He refused and told his driver to move on, so she put a curse on him. For every branch that fell off this magnificent Oak, a member of the Earls family would die. Later a branch did fall off the tree and member of the Earls family died. Immediately the Earl of Shrewsbury had chains wrapped around the branches to stop any more branches falling off. This legend forms the basis of the ride HEX at Alton Towers. Pretty creepy right.

2.1 The Beauty of Dimmingsdale valley

I hope you enjoyed the story, because that is not all's there is to this place. Sure it's a good reason to go if your into scary s***, but in general there is a lot to take in here. As I will show you in some of the pictures below, there is an underlined beauty to this place, you almost forget that your in Stoke-On-Trent. Every path you take and every walk you make around here will definitely be worth your while, so do take time it take it all in as it is just that little bit special.

2.2 Making a day of it!

Now me and my partner only really spent a couple of hours around here and felt bad really because we had rushed most of the walks just to get to the oak. But I do persuade anyone who goes here that you should try and make a day out of it, whether you go for a long walk or you take a picnic, it is 100% worth it. Depending on the paths you decide to take will also depend on where you end up, one path practically leads you directly towards Alton Towers. Whereas other paths bring you back to where you started, just do take care while walking as to not get lost, since this can be achieved if you are not careful. If you pick the right day and your into taking photographs then I would say your best bet is to wait around till the evening to get your pictures to get the best quality, although it's not difficult to get nice pictures well you are there. If you are lucky, then on the way back you may be able to snap a shot of Alton Castle.

2.3 Travel

Getting to Dimmingsdale can be quite troublesome at times, but it all depends on what the traffic is like getting to Alton Towers. Be aware that parking may be difficult on weekends as it does get quite busy in the day. As for the roads, they can be quite narrow especially as you get into Alton they can be pretty difficult to manuover around. Other than that parking is free and open from 7 till 6 and as long as you follow signs for Alton Towers you should get signs to Dimmingsdale as you drive into Alton.

3.0 Conclusion

So Stoke, it's one of those places that I have weirdly come to love. Which I will irritate, there is no shame in loving where you come from. But in a strange way, although you wouldn't really expect much there is quite a lot of character to it. So I would not go out of the way to just go and visit really unless you are close, but if you are casually driving through or perhaps you stay close by then I would definitely recommend that you do visit. Even if you just end up saying you survived a day in Stoke that's a pretty admirable achievement. In all seriousness though I would recommend that you visit, behind the scars and the hideousness of some places around here there is hidden beauty. Plus we have oatcakes. But the ultimate question is after a 3 part series does Stoke-On-Trent hit the vibe, the results are in, Stoke gets a 6.5. Didn't want to do it dirty really but I would say that's pretty fair overall, so Stoke just about hits it, but nights out need to be better.

So I hope you enjoyed the Stoke finale YAP, no doubt it won't be the last one but we will see where we are at next time!

Thanks for reading, to look at our last yap on Stoke-On-Trent click the button below:

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To view photos of my last trip click the blue button below:

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Matthew :)

YAPVibe blogger