"24 hours in the past" - A Living history show presented by Fi Glover. Six celebrities travel back in time to the relentless graft of Victorian Britain.

see more here ....

You can also find out more about the locations

The episode which was filmed at nearby Gladstone Pottery Museum will be screened on Tuesday 12 May at 9pm

British Gardens in TimeEpisode 3 of 4

Biddulph Grange, the best-surviving Victorian garden in the country, takes the visitor on a whistlestop journey around the world from China to Egypt in a series of gardens connected by tunnels and subterranean passageways.

Biddulph was created at the height of the British Empire by James Bateman, the son of a wealthy industrialist. Bateman was fascinated by botany and the emerging technologies of the Victorian era, filling his garden with rare specimens tracked down by the Victorian plant hunters laid out to designs that purported to come from around the world but were actually inspired by the Great Exhibition and painted plates from the Potteries.

new BBC documentary series uncovering the rich social and horticultural history of four famous British gardens.The first in a four-part series, British Gardens in Time will air on BBC 4 on 8 April at 9pm, and hopes to uncover the rich social history of four famous British gardens.

With expert contributions from garden designer Chris Beardshaw, historian Andrea Wulf and National Trust Head Gardener Alan Power, the series will take a detailed look at iconic gardens created during four different eras - each garden giving an insight into a different century, the people that created them, and why.

More about the programme - and STOWE

The other gardens to feature in the series are Nymans in West Sussex, Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire (both National Trust properties) and Great Dixter in East Sussex. Presenter Chris Beardshaw commented: 'Sometimes we forget just how privileged we are in the UK by the richness and diversity of gardens that are now open to the public. This series is the perfect example of how it's possible to tell the story of not just gardens but of the social, industrial and political developments that have shaped, or themselves have been shaped by their external environment.'

Download an e-book from the iTunes store about Stowe and the series.

The series was made by KEO films. You can find out more about the programme on the BBC website.

 http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stowe/visitor-information/article-1355833250494/

BBC One Countryfile Programme - in nearby Cheshire

Highlighting some of the great nearby places to visit:-

Tatton Park where they spot the great crested grebe

National Trust Property Quarry Bank Mill - where they discover what life was like for Victorian mill apprectices 

Rode Hall - where masses flock to see the seasonal snowdrop specatacle - a reminder that spring is just around the corner!

The guardian 'travel tips' - features 'the historic Potteries with a tour of Staffordshire's 300 year old ceramics history 

Highlighting:-

The restoration of Middleport Pottery - the oldest continuously operating china factory in the UK

June launch of the £34m Wedgewood Visitor Centre

The return of the British Ceramics Biennial in the autumn

Pick up bargains at Royal Doulton, Portmeirion and Emma Bridgewater factory shops

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery hosts a major ceramics exhibition featuring artists from China this spring

Also highlighing "there’s more to this part of the world than kilns and teapots" .... including .....

The Trentham Estate gardens designed by Capability Brown, its shopping village and unique monkey sanctuary.

And that Alton Towers, the Peak District National Park and the Staffordshire Moorlands are all within easy reach.