Pottery Throw Down On Holiday!

We go to the same place on holiday every year at the moment and absolutely love it. We go to the little town of New Quay in Wales, it has beautiful beaches, rock pools and doesn't get too busy. 

I'm very aware that I want to keep it interesting for the children (and for us adults as well) so always looking for something different to try. 

The children have a few programmes they love on the telly, Bake off, Sewing Bee and Pottery Throw Down. These are all crafts and activities we try to do at home. With the pottery I often buy a big bag of air dried clay and let them make items, or watch a video on how to make something and set them to it - but the children have often mentioned how they would like to have a go at a potters wheel to really let their creativity out! 

Mum quite often goes to a pottery to make things and my sister has weekly lessons and time at the wheel, we are very much a crafting family as you probably know from reading this blog. So mum suggested a place she uses when she goes down to Wales in Lampeter called Nantyfelin Pottery.

We booked half a day and assured them that our children would be interested in what we were doing and were quite good with their hands, and that they would be (relatively) well behaved!

It was just a perfect morning of craft and learning. Lovely that both my wife and I were learning alongside the children and asking just as many questions as them, showing them that we all had lots to learn. 

It was also lovely to see how good they were. My youngest is only 5 but could form the pot on the wheel once it had been centred, he just glowed as he made it. 

We all had a good amount of time on the wheel and lots of time to make other items on the workbench. 

It was great to show the children that it wasn't quite as easy as it looked on the TV but we could already see them improving in the short time we'd been there, as well as my wife and I! 

Being on the wheel reminded me lots of woodturning and the curves that are produced in that (all the golden ratio), and I could feel that keeping movements the same produced similar results. 

Jamie and Dodie were perfect hosts and instructors, keeping it fun and light hearted. They were great with the children and taught in ways to make them understand easily. 

Just the perfect morning to have on holiday and a great activity to share with each other. I've no doubt we'll be going back there again soon!

Anyone else like to do activities like this when they're on holiday?