We’ve just returned from a visit to CBeebies Land at Alton Towers. We’re not far from Alton Towers at all, but as there was a few of us travelling, we decided to stay at a nearby cottage for a couple of nights. We stayed at Broadhurst Farm Holiday Cottages, but I did a ton of research before booking and though I’d share the ones I found right here!
Essentially, for the purpose of this research, I considered a cottage to be near Alton Towers if you could drive there within 20 minutes.
Towns and Villages Near Alton Towers
My knowledge of the Staffordshire area was poor! So other than “Alton,” I probably couldn’t have named a town or village within the area.
Thank Heavens for Google Maps, eh!
So here are just some places I discovered to be within a 30 minute drive of Alton Towers. I’ve not included them all, just the ones we found had plenty of options for family friendly holiday cottages:
- Alton (obviously)
- Ashbourne
- Leek
- Cheadle
- Waterhouses (we stayed there)
- Ramshorn
- Oakamoor
- Moneystone
- Swinscoe
We were also looking for family friend holidays cottages that had at least 3 bedrooms.
Of course, you could stay in the cabins or hotels at Alton Towers itself, but aside from the fact that it’s very expensive, we prefer to be completely self catering and to get off site to do something different. So we opted to rent a holiday cottage near Alton Towers rather than right on site.
Holiday Cottages Near Alton Towers
Before I share the shortlist I pulled together, a few disclaimers and boring stuff:
- Unless I specifically state otherwise, the inclusion of a cottage on this list isn’t my personal endorsement. This was a shortlist. I didn’t stay at any except one!
- If, over time, I do stay at more of these places, I’ll add separate reviews on this site (as I always do after a break) and will link to the review from this post
Now, here’s that list!
Broadhurst Farm Holiday Cottages, Waterhouses
This is where we stayed! A review will be following shortly.
Located on a farm in Waterhouses, the cottages here at Visit England 3 star rated and are just a 13 minute drive from Alton Towers. Broadhurst Farm holiday cottages is made up of 4 self contained cottages sleeping between 6 and 12 people.
We stayed in Elm Cottage and it was good value for money.
The featured image at the top of this post is the cottage we stayed in, which came with a hot tub (additional charge) and lots of space for the little ones to run around in!
Quarry House Cottage, Money Stone
Quarry House cottage in Money Stone sleeps 4 adults and infants. It’s a traditional style cottage located in Money Stone. Its appeal for those going to Alton Towers is that the theme park is only around 10 minutes by car from this cottage.
Hope Cottage, Ashbourne
Hope Cottage is a 24 minute drive from Alton Towers. This is at the higher price bracket on this short list but the only reason we didn’t go with it was that they had no availability for our dates (we left it late). It looks amazing (though I have not been myself of course).
It has 4 bedrooms and imagery shows mod cons, fixtures and fittings and a holiday cottage with a luxury edge.
Find out more. And if any of you do book this, please let me know how you find your stay.
Upper Greenhills Farm, Ipstones
Ipstones is just a 15 minute or so drive from Alton Towers. This cottage sleeps 6 people in 3 bedrooms. The main reasons it ended up on our shortlist:
- It is really close to Alton Towers
- Images showed lots of space for our toddler to run around in
- Prices start at £73/night – very reasonable
It looks lovely. Again, if any of you do book this for a trip to Alton Towers, please let me know how it is!
Other Cottages Near Alton Towers
This was our shortlist for our recent trip. I hope to expand on this over time to make it a more valuable resource for people. So if you have a suggestion for a cottage that should be included here, do give me a shout! You’ll find my contact email address here.