Thursday, August 23, 2012

THE POTTERIES - England

We screeched to a halt when we saw this sign so that I could hop out and snap a pic. B roads are the best.
I LOVE ENGLAND!



Where are we? Stoke-on-Trent, also known as The Potteries.


                   Lots of shops and factory's housing English pottery.  First stop: Emma Bridgewater.



Are you familiar with Emma Bridgewater pottery?  It's one of the few potteries that is still made in England and the dishes are beautiful.

Having just driven through torrential rain and watching flashes of lightening grow closer we were happy that Emma Bridgewater had a tearoom.  Fully restored after tea and scones, we plunged into shopping and found a few treats.



                                    This is the line I'm partial to: Black Toast and Marmalade.



Here are a few of the items I had shipped home to add to my collection.

We stopped by a few more shops and then checked into 



                                   
                                    The Graythwaite in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire



                                              What a great find this was (well done, Leslie).

                                                                    

                                   We were greeted with afternoon tea in the library and then



                                      I spied this gorgeous Lacanche range in the kitchen and



                                  these pretty flowers stashed in a Burleigh pitcher on the sill



                                      so, I just knew there would be a fine view from our room.


                
                                                   Hazel and John Cooke, Proprietors

              Hazel and John are quite the culinary team.  Hazel makes the yogurt,  John cooks the breakfast (on my current obsession French Lacanche range) using fresh, local, and organic products and her parents make most of the jams and preserves.  We sampled everything and didn't eat again until dinner.


                  

                          After seeing a few Burleigh pieces at Hazel's, we had to stop by for a peek.



Of course we had to buy a few things.  Well, more than a few things.  Leslie decided it was time to freshen-up her tableware and bought all sorts of plates, bowls, cups, and saucers.

                               
Here is my stash.  Those checkerboard plates were $4 each (originally $30 each) and work well with my current cobalt blue dinner plates.  Mixing and matching is far more interesting than a matched set, no?  We then placed a moratorium on additional dinnerware purchases and quickly got out of town.


                                             "Please drive with special care" is so dignified.

                                                           Next stop:  Chatsworth (finally!)
                       

5 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! love all of the tableware and the flowers and ... just everything! So fun!

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  2. Oh, Kim I am so excited to read about your visit to England. This post alone has made me very happy! I love England. I enjoyed seeing all the pottery and the charming hotel you stayed at. I will now go back and look at your other posts about your trip. Sounds like the next stop is Chatsworth. Lucky you! Can't wait to hear all about it. I now want to find some of the tableware you talked about, both are so charming and English.

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  3. That is about the same size Lacanche as the one we are going to get. In fact ours might be slightly smaller. It will have one oven and a vertical warming/proving compartment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is about the same size Lacanche as the one we are going to get. In fact ours might be slightly smaller. It will have one oven and a vertical warming/proving compartment.

    ReplyDelete