The Potteries

We had a few days staying on the edge of the Peak district and visited the Moorcroft Pottery in Stoke.

Here's factory in the 1930's

and as it is now.

It was started in 1897 by William Moorcroft  and was sold in places such as Harrods, Liberty and Tiffanys. Its still a family business.

We were lucky enough to get on a guided tour of parts of the factory and they take you through the whole process from making the molds to the final firing.


Once the pot comes out of the mould its trimmed and tidied up.
The apprenticeship for these jobs is about 5 years and they have to make all their own specialist tools.

After the first firing the pattern is etched on and then outlined

before painting.

Next its hand painted.

and finally dipped in glaze ready for the final firing.

Some pots after coming out of the kiln.

This  one shows all the stages of production.

There is a showroom and museum.  I was warned to be careful as those large pots are £10000 plus.

A mid week ride

A glorious day with plenty of sunshine and temperatures about 9C, perfect for cycling and 5  club members  turned out.

The route is on the Strava side panel. Please let me know if you can or cant access the map.  Thanks

The ride was to Llantwit Major, a regular place we go to and I've mentioned it here .

I took all the pictures on my phone.

As always there's a cafe stop.  Many cafes have adopted the scheme to fill water bottles for the public in an effort to cut down on the amount of plastic bottles, but then many have been doing this for cyclists for years.

This is the village pond at Fonmon and where Fonmon Castle is.  

Its  privately owned, but open to the public on certain days.

This is the railway viaduct in Fontagary Park

and the road through the park.

I took this one because I like the shadows.

What a difference 30 miles away makes

I cycled 4 miles to catch the train to Rhymney, 30 miles away  and then cycle home as this was part of the route we were leading some cyclists over later in the year.  Hardly any snow locally.

But 30 miles away a different matter .

It seems that most of the snow was on the cycle routes as it had almost gone from elsewhere.  

This is the Winding house cafe and Community Centre along the trail

There is an exhibition of the wheel and engine used to bring the miners and coal back up from the depths of the mine.

After tea its back onto the trail heading south.

A good fun day out in good weather and the only snag was for me was a chain braking on a steep hill.  Managed to fix it ok though as I always carry a few spares links.  

A Robins tail....... of Taffs Well in the snow

In an effort to avoid cabin fever I took a walk around the village to capture the snow scenes.

Hardly any vehicles, just people like me, fed up of being confined for two days.  No shops open, no buses or trains either.

I thought I'd start with this little fellow who was on our lawn looking for the meal worms that I had thrown out.

Only a few 4 wheel drive vehicles had ventured out.

No trains were running.

Even the pub was closed.

No bowling on this green for a while.

Probably the warmest place, the natural spring of the village, hence its name, with a temperature much warmer than today.

Off to help someone.

The guys drive across the whole of Europe through probably far worse weather than here only to find the depot shut.

The Garth mountain keeping a watchful eye on the village.

The end. 

Snow

As there is a red extreme snow threat warning for the whole of S E Wales, I thought I would do my bit !!!! 

Just walked down to our local Co Op for the paper and the shelves are bare, talk about panic buying.  This weather is only due to last 3 days and then it rains again. 

We dont deal very well with snow conditions.

[One of the best snow pictures I've seen so far.]

Pinched from Facebook and copyright to someone on the web.

Goldfinch enjoying the sunflower hearts.