A trip of a lifetime part 2

As expected I am completely wiped out after our trip to Stoke on Trent to visit the Emma Bridgewater Pottery factory. We had an absolutely amazing time and I would do it again in a heartbeat but just not right now as I can barely think straight or keep my eyes open.

We both learnt so much from our tour around the factory. Our tour guide Jane was brilliant ensuring all our questions were answered. The staff were all great too, I did feel a little sorry for them as they must feel a little like animals in the zoo, with people parading past and staring at them. How they manage to get any work done is beyond me and shows how totally dedicated and professional they are. I don’t blame them for wearing headphones to drown out all the distractions they must have with multiple tours daily.

The disabled access was pretty good. A few of the doors were just slightly too narrow for my wheelchair to get through that was quickly remedied by other members of the public or staff opening up the other door (very few of the doorways were single doors). The disabled toilet was huge, more than enough room for me to turn the wheelchair around. Another bonus was that it wasn’t being used as a storage area which happens more times than I would care to mention. We also managed to bag the disabled parking spot right outside the factory.

This is all I can write for a minute as I really need to recover. I also managed to forget that Wednesday was my birthday - as in I would only have Tuesday and Wednesday to write this week!

So here are some photo’s from our day at the factory.

waiting for our tour to begin

This is where the clay comes into the factory.

These are mugs that have come out of the molds.

Some discarded clay that will be used again, nothing is wasted.

The factory doesn't just make mugs but also teapots, butter dishes, dogs and cats to name a few things.

We also tried our hand at decorating in the pottery cafe. I used sponges painted with ceramic paint for this salt pig. This type of decoration is known as (in my case badly done) spongeware.