OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2021

No sooner than we settle into Indian Summer here in Somerset, the weather is becoming Autumnal with leaves turning and days shortening fast. Harvest festival is being celebrated and the garden is a shimmer of michaelmas daisies and bolting lettuces alongside super squashes and frail precious roses. Those fine fat garden spiders are using old flower bed stems to make impressive webs and the swallows have definitely gone south. The end of September saw more of the turbulent weather that has become familiar this year. Rainbows shone in dramatic skies : Clatworthy reservoir nearby on Exmoor offers a feast for the eyes and potentially stomach too – apparently the trout there are immense. Should there ever be a sign on the pottery door ‘Gone Fishing’, you’ll know where to find me….

The pottery harvest is good too, making the most of the last fine weather to dry large bowls outside. These are for a new gallery near Salisbury as I am part of their opening show entitled Majolica and proud to be there alongside my old colleague from Aldermaston, Andrew Hazelden. It is great that normal life is largely back and we are happy to satisfy the appetite for shopping! It was good to be part of Somerset Art Weeks Open Studios and the trickle of visitors in a fuel crisis were a pleasure. Rory and I continued to make pots and so enjoyed talking with people as well.

We savour the last outdoor potters’ lunches on course days too when people have made great strides with fine small pots produced and tiles carefully painted – another 4 women from Kent are coming on Saturday, making a weekend of it ; I can always recommend a good B&B or offer inside knowledge on especially nice areas to stay. There are sometimes vacancies – do contact direct for details.

Orders abound and the online shop is being restocked with goodies, Christmas will be upon us before we know it. The Workshop Christmas Sale is 16-18th December after which no more work will be made until mid January so please order presents in good time. It is that awful time for accounts and I will be office bound but rather enjoy making sense of another busy year and dare to breathe a sigh of relief that the pandemic is passing. And in the meantime, bon appetit!

Warm wishes from Fitzhead,

E info@nicolawerner.com
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