Pictured above: The Italian Garden

2011 looks bright for The Trentham Estate which has reported achieving record visitor levels and annual tickets sales in 2010 alongside improved turnover across the Garden Centre and Shopping Village.

2010 was a hugely successful year for the Estate, which is now one of the top tourist, leisure and shopping attractions including the award winning Trentham Gardens, Italian Garden Tearoom, popular Garden Centre and Shopping Village, plus a regular calendar of events. The year saw a 46 per cent increase in visitors paying to enter to the Italian Gardens and Lake (316,000 visitors compared to 216,000 in 2009), alongside a 63 per cent increase in annual ticket sales, demonstrating the popularity of the Estate among repeat visitors. The wide range of events held at the Estate in 2010 proved increasingly popular with a further 75,000 people attending those as well. In total, when all those who simply enjoy the attractive range of shops and other attractions are included, nearly 3m people visited the Estate in 2010.

The Trentham Estate and Gardens is St Modwen's flagship tourist and leisure destination in North Staffordshire and Mike Herbert, St. Modwen's regional director commented: "The team at the Trentham Estate is absolutely delighted to report yet another record breaking year. The popularity of the Estate continues to rise and we very have made great efforts to appeal to a broad range of customers. We are particularly pleased with the massive support we receive from Annual Ticket holders, which give fantastic value for money. They entitle holders to discounts in many of the shops on site and can be purchased using Tesco Club Card vouchers."

"The Estate appeals to visitors of all ages whether they are visiting the iconic Italian Garden Tearoom, the children's play areas, or attending one of the many varied events and performances that we host throughout the year," continued Mike.  "All areas of the Estate performed very strongly in 2011 and we were particularly pleased to see the Shopping Village and Garden Centre bucking the national trend which saw a downturn in retail sales. New retailers have opened at the Shopping Village and we were thrilled to see Brown & Green awarded third place in the Best Retailer category of the Taste of Staffordshire Good Food Awards 2010, just six months after opening. 

"I believe the success of the Estate is testament to its unique combination of a major tourist attraction with leisure and shopping facilities plus a lively and interesting events calendar. It is a destination that genuinely appeals to a wide audience across a very wide area and we very much look forward to welcoming visitors old and new to the estate in 2011."

If The Trentham Estate is compared with the National Trust, only four of the Trust's many properties around the country attracted more visitors.1 The most popular National Trust garden attracted just 220,000 visitors compared to Trentham's 316,000.

Note 1; see visitor figures in the National Trust Annual Report 2010.