Wedgwood

15th May - Wednesday

Only photo permitted at Wedgwood 

A couple of friendly companions 

View from the rain spattered window 

A nice window seat above the heater 

Plenty of teapots for a cuppa

It was a cold, wet and miserable morning as we left Windermere, heading towards Stoke-on-Trent and the Wedgwood factory, and then on to Cotton. We stuck to the M6 today, mainly owing to the distance to be travelled and the weather. There aren’t many photos today – heavy rain, fog, mist and trucks don’t make good photographic subjects. The traffic flowed well, apart from a section about 20 miles long when everything would grind to a halt, crawl slowly for some time and then take off again for another mile, when we would repeat the process. We eventually came to the cause of the problem – one of the three lanes was closed for about 200 yards while workmen dug a small hole on the side of the road!


Doris took us straight to the Wedgwood Visitors’ Centre (although we nearly had to re-programme her to find the visitors’ car park – the place was huge), just in time for lunch – served on Wedgwood china, of course. After paying the requisite number of pounds, we were able to visit the museum, and this was enormous, before undertaking the guided tour through the factory. We saw how some of the dinner ware was hand-produced in a more mechanical way (nothing was computerised) and other articles were either moulded or hand thrown. The painting and decorating departments were fascinating, especially the artists completely hand painting articles or applying the gold trim. We fully understood why the china is so expensive to purchase.

Of course, the tour finished with visits to both the retail and outlet shops; lots of noughts on the price tickets in the retail shop but some good bargains, especially for crystal, in the outlet shop. Unfortunately, neither the suitcase or credit card was big enough for presents!

The rain had actually stopped for our drive to The Mousehole B & B in Cotton – the place is so small it doesn’t even show on our large scale map. We are in a 17th Century stone cottage, complete with very thick walls, lots of beams, high ceilings and a narrow, winding staircase. Cat is rapt with the name, even finding a couple of mice on the windowsill.

Three inches of snow fell last night not very far from here – it has been bitterly cold all day.