Like all “non-essential” customer-facing businesses, Eastnor Pottery was closed to the public for the duration of the lockdown. I’ve been keeping an eye on their website and was very pleased to see that they re-opened a couple of weeks ago, in line with the general relaxing of the lockdown restrictions. I contacted Jon the Potter to see if he had any availability for a throwing session, and as luck would have it he had a short-notice cancellation for last Saturday.
The pottery has really expanded over the years (well, more like decades) I’ve been going there, and they’ve got lots of space both indoors and outdoors. Which is very convenient now that social distancing is called for. The main throwing class took place with just five well-spaced potters wheels in the main workshop, and I had the small front studio all to myself. I had a potters wheel, a bucket of water, and a large bag of clay, and just enjoyed getting back into the swing of throwing again.
In more normal times, Jon and Sarah provide non-stop tea, coffee and biscuits, and a ploughman’s lunch. All of that is infeasible with the current regulations, so I took a flask of coffee, a bottle of water and a packed lunch. They are clearly taking anti-Covid precautions very seriously, so we were all asked to wear masks indoors, and had our individual socially-distanced picnics in the garden. It’s a strange feeling to think that was the first time since March that I’ve left the house for something non-essential, and I really enjoyed myself.
There are going to be so many casualties in the business world. So even though the “new normal” felt odd, it was really good to see that the business had survived lockdown and was finding a way to get back on its feet again afterwards.
