Everyone knows Stoke on Trent as the place your dinner service came from - but unless you've visited, you might not know how much the ceramics industry is built into the fabric of the city.

The history is so embedded, you can still see huge Victorian kilns and their red brick chimneys - quite different from the chimneys around the mill town I grew up in, and quite beautiful.

Anyone with even a passing interest in ceramics would find the Gladstone pottery museum fascinating. Rather than looking at dusty old pots, it's a place you can get hands on and have a go at throwing a pot and working with bone china; climbing inside one of those giant red brick kilns, or joining a workshop where you can try your hand at dramatic raku firing, which throws hot flames into the air from a steel bin, creating gorgeous metallic patterns on your glazed pot.

Gladstone Pottery Museum

Industry is a huge part of the city's heritage, but this sits within the most beautiful countryside. You can be in the Peak District in half an hour, but for something a bit closer there's the gorgeous Trentham estate, which was listed in the Domesday book.

Once home to a grand hall, the remains are now in ruins and are Grade II listed. They sit in 300 acres of beautiful gardens, the ideal location for misty autumnal strolls around the peaceful grounds or stunning woodlands.

Wildlife spotting is some of the best fun you can have in nature, so animal lovers are in for a rare treat at Trentham Monkey Forest, home to 140 Barbary macaques.

The monkeys are endangered in the wild due to hunting, but at Trentham they can live a safe and happy life while having plenty of freedom to live as they would in nature. It's amazing to watch their antics, from the youngsters playing in the trees under mum's watchful eyes, to making the most of a potato at feeding time. It's a lovely activity for the whole family.

Gladstone Monkey Forest

A walk in the park wouldn’t be complete without a bite to eat afterwards, and for that there’s the shopping village, which features 65 shops in timber lodges selling everything from pottery (naturally) to clothes, homewares, gifts and toys. There are also 24 places to eat, from independent outlets like Totally Delicious, which features gorgeous tapas (including plenty of choice on offer for us two vegetarians), to household names including Pieminister, Costa and Frankie and Benny’s.

Eccleshall high street, in Staffordshire

We stayed in Eccleshall, which is a town according to its Wikipedia page, but to the locals this matter is the subject of fierce debate - with many insisting it is a village.

It is tiny, with a handful of shops, a couple of restaurants and bars - but it does have eight pubs within a 500ft radius, most of which serve meals. Our home for the weekend was the Little George pub, which features cosy boutique rooms above a well-stocked bar.

The pub was very lively until 11pm when the bar closed, and all was silent, leaving us to enjoy a peaceful night's sleep after a long day.

The Little George

Before our drive home we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of Staffordshire oatcakes, which I had never heard of, never mind tasted, but combined with melted cheese and tomato they were delicious.

From museums to wildlife, country walks to shopping til you drop, there's plenty to pack into a weekend in Staffordshire.

For more information about what's on offer in Staffordshire, visit Enjoy Staffordshire.

The Little George, Eccleshall: double rooms from £120 per night, www.bentsbh.com Tel: 01785 859246

The Trentham Estate: www.trentham.co.uk

Trentham Monkey Forest: https://monkey-forest.com

Gladstone Pottery Museum: www.stokemuseums.org.uk/gpm/