Set in the rolling countryside of South Shropshire, the old village school has undergone many changes since we bought it in 1982. It has been home for our four boys, a busy workshop and our main retail outlet for the sale of pots.

For twenty years we produced mainly large Terracotta garden pots, with the occasional return to making stoneware when time allowed. The eighties and early nineties were exciting times to be making garden pots, with a strong market and a growing number of gardeners looking for well made and frost proof terracotta. We were, at this time, unaware of the future threat of cheap imported pots which were soon to flood into every garden centre and reduce sales from the workshop.

A change to making commissioned pots started in 1996 when we undertook some of the most challenging work for garden designers and some of the great gardens in the United Kingdom, notably Hampton Court, Dyrham Park and Powis Castle. It still gives me great pleasure to think that the pots we made for these gardens will be enjoyed for many years to come.

Following the building of the new garden at the Pottery in 2001-2002, the reorganisation of workshop space and creation the schoolhouse gallery, I am now enjoying a return to making high fired stoneware pots.