Holidays

 We've recently had time off for a holiday. The first week we visited places within easy reach of home. One of the places we visited was the Weald and Downland Folk Museum in West Sussex. They have rebuilt buildings to create a medieval village. Many of the houses are filled with reproduction copies of original medieval artifacts like these pots. I don't know who the potter was unfortunately but they looked good in their authentic settings. What the photos don't show is that every school within a five mile radius must have been having their school trip to the centre that day!

 The second week we travelled to West Wales and stayed in this farmhouse. It was just as though we had moved into the museum I don't know which was more authentic. The little chap below was a regular visitor to the farmhouse and even followed us when we went for walks. The farmhouse was somewhere north of St. Davids which is one of our favourite parts of the country.

 I'm back at work now but it always seems slow starting again. This little jug is one I use every day to make my coffee in so I have been making these again. Although it seems a long way off at the moment I am all ready thinking of Farnham and Art in Clay in November. Which reminds me that Andy and Di Mcinnes have developed a facebook page for Art in Clay. It's crammed full of photos of pots so set aside an hour ( or two) and browse through.

Holiday Mode

 We are still in holiday mode. We went to Brighton on Sunday. A shop window was full of old sewing machines. I couldn't decide if it looked retro in a good way or if it just looked like a strange graveyard for sewing machines. It was actually a clothing shop.
Brighton Pavilion is by far a more familiar landmark in Brighton.

 Today we visited the Contemporary Ceramics gallery and the British Museum.
Around the museum they had 'handling stations' where you could handle some of the museums collections. They had a piece of a reliquary. The photo below doesn't do it justice because it looked so fresh and vibrant. There is also a picture of a complete reliquary from one of their galleries.
Finally there is a very jolly medieval pot. I like the little face on the side.