It’s a short post this morning…

I’m awash to the gunnels with prep for this coming weekend’s ‘On the Pictish Trail’ weekend, based in Inverness and a few points north; eventually, (with a whittled-down group) ending up in Orkney, one of the most naturally spiritual landscapes I’ve even visited.

All those will be reported on here, and at the Silent Eye in due course. But for now, couple of photos from yesterday’s PotFest, held at Hutton -in-the-Forest in the heart of Cumbria’s most verdant countryside.

The show alternates between being under a hard roof, in the covered Penrith pens, and out in the open, under canvas, here. Usually the weather forecasting is good, and they take the chance. Yesterday, we arrived to a downpour and were sliding through mud across the field and into the gardens of Hutton Hall.

The show is all about artisan pottery; not the kind you’ll normally find in the shops, but the kind for which one-off potters are famed, often taking weeks or even months to finish a piece.

I nicknamed the opening photo ‘The Hoot’. I loved the piece, immediately. It’s wacky and unusual. It’s also beautifully made by hand. Here are two more ‘baby hoots’.

I’ll be doing a full blog on the PotFest show when we get back from Scotland, along with the Scottish trip’s photo-diaries, of course. There will be a lot to cover, all of it reflective of that part of the wonderful Highlands.

©Stephen Tanham, 2020.