‘We live next to Alton Towers and love it because we get free tickets’

Alton Towers is one of the UK’s most popular theme parks filled with thrill rides, experiences and fun for all ages.

But, while thousands of us visit every year for rides like Oblivion and Nemesis we’re not sure we’d want to live within screaming distance of the park.

And, the village of Alton sits so close to the park that every summer Brits drive through it on their way to the adrenaline-Mecca.

The village, with 2,500 residents, sits in Staffordshire – and reporters from StaffordshireLive decided to visit the residents to see how they feel living a stones throw away from Alton Towers.

It seems there are some freebies involved in the trade off…

Chris Rank, 36, has lived in Alton his whole life, growing up in the village and now with his own family.

He lives with his partner Lyndsey Vincent, 39, and their daughter Lucia, two, and he said: "It's not changed a great deal since I've lived here.

"It can obviously get busy at times in the summer but we're well sheltered here so don't really get much of the traffic issues that others may do.

“For us as well, we get free tickets each year to the park, so for our little one it's great and especially with the CBeebies Land they have there now."

So, for theme park lovers it seems that the benefits way outweigh the traffic and noise.

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Kim Greenwood, 55, claims she and her husband moved to the village in 2004 specifically to be close to the theme park.

She noted: “And the traffic; we are not bothered about because like I said, we love rollercoasters and most people who travel through here are happy, leave no litter and respect the village."

Yvonne Matthews, 77, has resided in Alton since before the park existed – but she doesn’t mind as the rise in shops and facilities have made her life “a lot easier”.

And, business owners like Margaret Boot, 75, are happy too – after 51 years in the village she said: "The park ultimately benefits us.”

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