Fiona Julian from Bournemouth visited the pottery last year and liked it so much that she wrote the following article which was printed in the Wessex Muse magazine. If you have any comments or photos from your visit we’d love to hear and will pop them  on this page.

“Pottery painting coffee shops have popped up all over the place, but many are franchises and most offer a range of standard pots, bowls, plates or figures for you to paint. When I stumbled on Vanessa’s ‘Pottery Parlour Dorset’ website, I knew that I’d found a gem and booked an afternoon’s fun for my two nieces, aged 4 and 8, my sister and me (ages not given – smile).

Vanessa’s pottery parlour is quite simply unique. It’s like walking into an inspirational jewellery box tucked away in a glorious, quirky, upper room in one of Blandford’s Georgian buildings. As soon as you walk in you just know that you’re going to have fun. There are pots of paints, fairy lights and eccentric objets d’art all over the place, from the rafters to the windowsills.

In the centre of the room, or perhaps I should call it the studio, is a large painting station and to the side are three potter’s wheels. At Vanessa’s you start by actually throwing your very own pot. You get to play with the clay! Vanessa takes you through the process, first centring the clay on the potter’s wheel and then working with it to create a pot. And it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work out perfectly. Each pot is unique. It’s yours and has its very own character.

Then with the wonders of modern technology Vanessa blasts your pot with a hot gun to dry it off, making it hard enough so that you can paint it. It’s brilliant. You get to decorate your creation then and there. Us four girls were completely absorbed. Time quickly ticked away and by the end of the afternoon all our creations were ready for firing.

We collected the fired and glazed pots a few weeks later. We were delighted with what we’d achieved. I can thoroughly recommend this holistic approach to pottery and painting. It’s huge fun, really relaxing and you get the joy of keeping your creation.”

Thanks Fiona!

“I took my two girls aged 4 and 6 to the summer workshop at the Pottery Parlour, we spent 2 wonderful hours there. Anna spent ages showing them how to make animals out of clay. It was so relaxed and they loved being able to create their own pieces then paint them straight away. They made 4 pieces each and we had a great afternoon. I would thoroughly recommend this quirky, creative and very good value for money experience. Looking forward to having a party there soon.” Rachel, Bournemouth

“Just wanted to thank you for a great morning today.The children had a fantastic time at your workshop and they all agreed that you were lovely!”  Claire, Bournemouth

“What a brilliant place! I took my 3 children aged 10 and 11 to one of their workshops. We all had a go on the potters wheels and then got stuck into the big bag of clay. Even my son, who doesn't normally like arty crafty things really enjoyed himself. Great to find something that we could all do together. Lovely, relaxed place to go to get really messy - can't wait to pick up our masterpieces!” Linda, Poole

Click on images to view photo galleries

Studio                  Workshops  & parties          Hen parties                Festivals