Stoke is a good base for the southern Peak District: buses run from Hanley up the A53 to Leek (35 minutes), and from there into the dales at Buxton, Bakewell, and Dovedale. The whole edge of the National Park, from Wetton to Hartington and the Manifold Valley, is within an hour's drive.
Alton Towers theme park is a 25-minute drive east. The pottery village of Cheadle, with its Pugin-designed St Giles church (one of the finest neo-Gothic churches in England), is a short detour from there. Lichfield, with its three-spired cathedral, is about 45 minutes south. The Roaches, a dramatic gritstone edge popular with climbers and walkers, are 20 minutes north of Leek.