07/01/2026
I didn’t plan to come home from the Cotswolds with three pieces of pottery. But that’s the magic of wandering through antique stores.
The first to find me was this Torquay Pottery vase — hand-thrown and hand-painted in Devon in the late 1800s, glazed in that Torquay deep blue with wild floral brushstrokes that no machine could ever replicate. Holding it felt like holding a little piece of English countryside, still warm from the kiln. 💙🌸
Then came the one that took my breath away — a Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee mug, 1897. Made to mark her 60th year on the throne, gifted across England as a symbol of an era. The portrait, the colors, the fine detail — all of it still intact after 129 years. I kept turning it in my hands, thinking about all the people who had held it before me, all the tables it had sat on, all the history it had quietly witnessed. 👑🤍
And finally, the one that felt most alive — a handthrown stoneware mug from The Cotswold Pottery by John and Jude Jelfs of Bourton-on-the-Water, a studio lovingly kept going since 1973. That rich, earthy striped glaze is John’s own Ochre Ash — made from Cotswold clay and wood ash, fired at 1300°C, shaped as much by flame as by hands. Every pot is one of a kind. This one is mine now. Three pieces. Three stories. One trip I’ll never forget. 🔥🏺🇬🇧
