2024 marks the forty-seventh year of the pottery being in Queen Camel.

Enjoy the intensive teaching in the relaxed atmosphere of a modern studio.  Learn the timeless skills of the potter and fire pots by the magic of burning wood to 1300 deg C, deep in the Somerset countryside. 


Teaching

Douglas standing up, throwing a very large pot

Monthly Pottery Skills sessions

Monthly skill sessions will start on the 20th of January 2024.
Students will need to commit for three months at a time, with payment in advance of £99(£33×3).

Douglas throwing off a hump

Summer school

For 2024 Ridge Pottery will be open to students for week-long pottery courses during the summer

June 9th – 16th(Full – contact us to join waiting list)
July 1st – 6th
August 4th – 11th

Photo showing wheelbarrow with freshly dug lumps of clay

Wild Clay weekends

Wild Clay, ready for testing!

The fee for the 2-day course, including tea and coffee is £240. 10am till 4pm. Dates 13th & 14th April. Register your interest



This site deals mostly with the teaching side of our endeavours and with the production of our pots 

I established Ridge Pottery in Queen Camel, Somerset, in 1977, with the aim firstly of making beautiful and useful pots of all kinds and sizes and secondly to continue with the international summer school I had started in Devon. In partnership with Jennie and with the help of many assistants, this quickly became a reality. 

From the ground up! 

We dig our own clay; our glazes are made from local materials, and we wood-fire our finished stoneware pottery. We are devoted to making good, useable pots, delighting in the timeless skill of working in clay and promoting the fulfilling life of creating with hand, eye and the earth’s materials. 


Help find the helpers!

In 1972 a participant, seeing how much physical work was involved in running these workshops, offered to stay on and help out and I gratefully accepted. And so the tradition started of students... READ MORE

Kilns

With the establishment of the pottery in Queen Camel, came the decision to fire all pots with the use of wood as a fuel. The aim was to be as environmentally positive as... READ MORE