With another dull day forecast we trawled our list of things to do and decided to visit the Potteries. When I looked at the map I realised how close they were, there are always leaflets available on the various factories. We set off for Stoke via Leek but en route to Leek stopped at a tea room by the Roaches for a coffee. We haven’t walked at the Roaches for a couple of years. From the tearoom we could see the Titesworth reservoir despite the gloom, but on a clear day you can see the Black Mountains apparently. At Stoke our first port of call was the Potteries Museum which I decided was as good as any place to get acquainted with the history of the area. In addition to information on the processes of making pottery there were displays of pottery through the ages and ceramics from the various factories. There was also a Spitfire on display – the designer originated from the area but the most interesting display was some of the items from the Staffordshire Hoard http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/ which are still on display following a recent exhibition. There are plans for some of the Hoard to be on permanent display at this museum. There was also an exhibition on a local Methodist chapel which was featured in the 2003 Restoration TV series and has undergone a dramatic restoration since the programme was aired. After a light lunch we walked through the centre of Stoke in search of one of the other museums. This was the Dudson Museum which is housed in the bottle oven of the old factory. This was a fascinating way of displaying the history of the company and of various ceramics. We then drove a little further north in the town to visit a couple of the factory shops. When we left Stoke it took us 50 minutes to get back home. Chris was able to put together his new toy, a spreader, which can also be used for salt as well as for fertiliser. Chatted to some of the guests about the events of last night at our peak district cottages and of course exercised our democratic right and went down to Bakewell to vote.
