Whichford Pottery Revisited

Earlier in the summer, I visited Whichford Pottery on a Saturday, not really thinking about the fact that  I missed seeing the pottery in action. This time I visited on a weekday, and loved being able to see pots being thrown, decoration applied to pots, pots drying, pots being put into a kiln and all the extra things involved in making their fantastic ceramic pots. Having seen the process of making a pot from slab to finished article, I was very keen to buy more pots, and appreciated even more how important a good pot is in setting off a plant. It all looks very easy when you look at the arrangement of pots in their courtyard garden, but it's skillfully done.
I'm going to start with photos of the workshops where visitors are welcomed and their questions answered, it's such a lovely place.
We started by looking at someone with a piece of clay

 which rapidly became elongated

and after about 4 minutes became a pot like these which have been put on a shelf to dry

 here's a more general view of pots drying

 and at the other end of the workshop people were adding ornamentation to the pots

 below here's a very elaborately decorated pot. It's also possible to order whatever sort of pot you'd like. For a special occasion it can have your name and a message for example.

 This room had specially ordered pots, some of them were beautiful shapes and had glorious patterns on them

 In another room there were masses of small shapes which could rotate on their wooden handles. They were all different and could be used for adding patterns to the pots, so if having one specially made, maybe you could choose the pattern applied to it.

 Here's a close up of a particularly lovely one

 Round the corner there was someone fixing shapes to the outside of a huge pot. It's quite a physical job with lots of skill needed.

 When we went downstairs, pots were being pushed into the kiln, it seemed like a very difficult job.

 Outside again, I looked for the fantastic arrangements of succulents seen on my last visit, they can be seen here
I spotted succulents being taken away in a wheelbarrow, and asked about them, apparently they are all being put in a heated greenhouse for the winter. it was a great privilege to be allowed to have a look at these. They have masses of different sorts of succulents, I've been amazed how quickly they grow when we have a hot summer, I'm not sure i can find a place to store all mine this winter.
I'll post a few photos of the plants in the courtyard, the Coleus really stands out here

 The Morning Glory flowers were massive

 I love the way pots are arranged in larger pots so some can be removed when they're past their best

 Here's a delightful selection of succulents looking so good. It was at this point that I thought I might like a coloured glazed pot like the one on the left below

We had a tasty lunch in the cafe on site called The Straw Kitchen, it's open Wednesday to Sunday.
And then went to select pots to buy. I've taken photos of the pots I bought with plants in them, and will post photos of those in another post.