I was driving back from Manchester, the motorway was packed and horrible, and the only places for lunch were the motorway services.
However, I suddenly remembered that the
Wedgwood museum had won loads of awards, had amazing treasures, and surely there'd be a café with some
really serious china plates, cups or tea pots???
Following the signs, I went south of Stoke through little country lanes until I got to the Wedgwood Estate at Barlaston. The factory was relocated there in the 30's, and it's a lovely place to visit. The factory is still here, but new showrooms, offices, restaurants and lovely tea rooms have been added, while a lot of new development work is going on.
I was starving so headed for the first restaurant, and loved the great staff which were so elegantly dressed and the excellent lunch menu.
Josiah Wedgwood has always been one of my hero's. He was an early entrepreneur of huge sophistication, a chemist, an amazing inventor, an architect of the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment, a designer and man of impeccable taste. Yet he came from humble origins and was the Steve Jobs of his age. The Wedgwood family is also closely interwoven with the Darwin's, as Charles Darwin (who wrote Origins of the Species) was a close relative.
The Wedgwood factory and museum attracts lots of overseas visitors, and I was there with lots of enthusiastic French, German, Japanese and Chinese people.
The factory is spotless and manufacturing staff dressed in Wedgwood-blue coloured overalls, and it always amazes me how clean these factories are, as these guys are basicly working with wet mud.
It is the same with
Bronte Porcelain or
Kinver Ceramic in Worcestershire, who hand-make New House's
Porcia or
Herringbone pulls in fine English bone china items.
The museum was exceptional, and no wonder it has won so many awards. The early Jasper china is amazing and I should have taken a lot more images.
I loved this early china where various colour clays were mixed to give interesting effects ;
Jasper silhouettes were all the rage years ago, and I wondered why Wedgwood couldn't revive the process using digital techniques today?
People loved ruins years ago, especially when recreated in fine china ;
These were a few things I loved :
I really liked the shape of these salt shakers, and if they were avaiable today, I'd buy them :
A design by Ravilious :
After the museum I was gasping for a cup of tea. There are two tea rooms, and the tea selection so amazing that they offer you a small 'taster' to help you decide. The Wedgwood tea rooms are better than being at Fortnum's & Masons.
There's lots to see at the Wedgwood museum, and I'd recommend a visit to anyone!
