Tarka Pottery

With the summer holidays just around the corner, now is the time to start thinking about how to keep the kids entertained!

Our Potter's Wheel Experience is perfect for the whole family. You each get up to 10 minutes on the wheel with one of our studio team to throw your pot, before spending the rest of the 2 hour session decorating and painting it!

Check out our website and click BOOK NOW to find availability!

We love having lovely groups of friends come to visit us in the studio for a bit of creativity and relaxation.

This group did our Creative Clay Modelling experience, making textured slab pots with a couple of the group having a go on the potter's wheel too!

Check out their finished pots in the second picture. We love to see how a selection of pots made using the same technique can look so different depending on the glaze finish!

Did you know, we have an on-site holiday cottage here at Tarka Pottery?

One of our favourite things to do is host Pottery Retreats. It's a way for you and the family to relax and unwind over multiple days, building skills with clay and coming away with some fantastic pots to remind you of your summer holiday memories.

You don't need to book the pottery to book the cottage, but if you do choose to stay with us, you can book anything from a session of Pottery Painting or our Potter's Wheel Experience to choosing to spend 3 or 4 days in the studio, making an assortment of hand built and thrown projects.

If you're interested in staying at the pottery, get in touch with us at [email protected] 🔆

Fancy a truly memorable, unique experience for your Hen Do?

At Tarka Pottery, we have a range of activities you can do for any sort of party:

Potters Wheel Experience - up to 10 minutes on the wheel each to make a bowl, then spend the rest of the session decorating and painting your pots.

Handbuilding - get creative and make and glaze a planter, mug or slab-built tealight holder (great for wedding decorations!)

Throwing Taster - two people sharing one wheel for an hour - throw a couple of pots and choose your favourite to keep!

Pottery Painting - choose a theme of mugs or vases, or let your bridal party choose what they like from our selection of bisque ware.

We love to make hen parties special, so are very happy for some of the bride tribe to rock up early to decorate your table and area in the studio.

If you've got a particular theme or idea, just email [email protected], and the team will be happy to discuss how we can incorporate your colour scheme into the glazing or make sure we have the right shaped cutters and shapes for you to play with 💕

We’re hugely proud to once again be recognised in Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards for 2026, placing us in the Top 10% of Things to Do Worldwide!

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful customers and students who have enjoyed their experiences in the studio and taken the time to leave reviews.

We look forward to another year of throwing, hand building, painting and fun!

Here are some recent projects from one of our long-standing class students who has a brilliant understanding of clay, mark making and using textures.

Our next 5-week set of classes starts on the second week of June, and we still have the following availability:

Thursday 11th June - Thursday 9th July | 10am - 12pm
Friday 12th June - Friday 10th July | 10am - 12pm

You can book these online via our website or email us at [email protected] to find out more!

It's those finishing touches that really make a piece!

Turning is the stage after throwing where the potter will flip the pot over to trim the pot to create a more defined shape, thinner walls and to add a foot in the form.

The ft is an interesting part of the pot as it serves a couple of functions. It allows the potter to trim away thickness in the base of the pot, it helps with glazing as it will be left unglazed and (depending on the depth of the foot), it can allow the potter to use slightly runny glazes without the risk of the pot sticking to the kiln shelf, and it elevates the form, creating a more polished profile.

In our Weekly Pottery Classes, you can take the time to learn how to turn your pots and start to create more professional-looking work.

Pics by 📸

A wonderful sculpted hare made by Lynn during Wednesday class.

As a novice to clay, Lynn started classes two terms ago, and it's delightful to see how her sculptures have developed during her time with us.

This one was textured using a pin tool and coloured with oxide, which highlights this texture and brings this character to life.

One of our favourite handbuilding projects is our textured slab bowls.

These were developed by Jax over a few years of testing textures, forms, and glazes, and they are such an adaptable project, making it suitable for all sorts of budding potters.

Although the basic techniques are the same, you can choose your own shape, textures and colours, making each piece totally unique. Some people choose to use similar blues and greens to Jax's work, while others decide to go for a different style. Perhaps you want to focus on using leaf textures and use browns and reds to create an autumnal theme, or you could choose to work with really deep textures and use glazes that really highlight the texture to create a high contrast piece.

There is a general uneasiness around the idea of 'copying' an artist's work, but in the studio, we know that it's absolutely fine to take inspiration from other artists and whatever you make will have your own spin on it!

Photos by 📸