Tag Archives: The Potteries

Before They’re Lost…

One of my favorite experiences of 2013 was our trip to Jolly Old England. Here are some photos that our son and daughter in law took that I’ve just downloaded. I’m tying up some loose ends before I move full bore ahead into 2014!J & L's England 002Setting up the SatNav for our trip to the Manchester United Soccer game in Manchester, England. J & L's England 004At the Emma Bridgewater Factory store. Can you see Josh inside? J & L's England 009Interesting Road signs. J & L's England 020Stratford Upon Avon J & L's England 027Small grocers in Chipping Campden. J & L's England 040St. James Church in Chipping Campden

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J & L's England 053Wells Cathedral and reflection at the Bishop’s Palace Grounds

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photo (1)The Bishop’s Close in Wells

photo (2)The west coast of Cornwall

J & L's England 108Josh and Laura managed to get a photo of our great tour guide in London. He really made the tour a highlight of ours with all his knowledge.

I got to write 2014 on a check today. Katie and I had our hair done and her red hair is more vibrant and my grey hairs are covered up. She’s heading to California this weekend to spend some time with her cousins. She’ll get to visit Disneyland before all the Christmas decorations are taken down. She’ll also be able to visit my dear old pop. Dear mentioned that he gets 2 Mondays this week and 2 Fridays. Makes for a bit of disorientation on what day of the week it really is. How are you managing with Christmas and New Year’s landing on Wednesdays?

The Potteries

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The Potteries area in Stoke on Trent isn’t a picturesque area of England and it’s not like one our factory outlet areas in the states. Each factory stands on it’s own and you have to do some driving in between the shops depending on your interests. We were not devoting a whole day to this venture as we were more interested in getting to our next destination in the Cotswolds.

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds1I was most interested to see the Emma Bridgewater shop. We chose the second factory that was closest to E.B. which was Aynsley.

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Here’s a link where you can poke around and see all the different potteries there are to visit in the area.

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I’m a real bargain hunter and even the discounted prices weren’t floating my boat. I chose a few items to pack away in my suitcases to bring home. If you are serious about buying there was a shipping option at the factory stores.

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I chose the hedgehog for my souvenir mug. The inscription on the bottom says “Numbers of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle’s friends and relations are seriously depleted in the twenty-first century. Falling insect populations and rising traffic levels have all taken their toll as has excessive tidiness in the garden with the loss of vital log heaps and piles of leaves.

flight-souvenirs5A couple egg cups and a tea towel rounded out my purchases at Emma Bridgewater.

Alton to Cotswolds 018It was fun to poke around our second stop but we left empty handed. My buying skills were kind of like this next sign we saw…

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Happy first October weekend to all of you. We got some fabulous sunshine on Friday and I hope we have more in store. We have some serious yard work that needs to get done and some dry days would really help that venture. I’ll continue with my England posts Sunday night or Monday. Enjoy your weekend!