About Me

I have always loved ceramics.  My home is full of pottery.  Firstly, lots of Spanish pottery, then onto Portmeirion, Sophie Allport and Emma Bridgewater.   

On my school holidays staying in Yorkshire with my grandparents one of my fondest memories was Saturday night… salmon sandwiches, crusts cut off and cut into triangles and, of course, the best China! I thought we were SO posh. We weren’t at all! The salmon was tinned, mixed with breadcrumbs and vinegar to make it go further but I loved it.

Initially I was going to call my business after my grandmother.  I have such fond memories of her and staying with her in my school holidays from boarding school. They lived at the edge of a railway.  Oh yes, we were the railway children! The house was amazing. Amazing but cold! No heating or upstairs loo.  But again, I loved it.  Enid Blyton book under the bed which I still have.  We picked fruit and vegetables from the garden for dinner, made jam. It was simple, perfect actually. Not an iphone/tablet or computer in sight and only 3 channels on the TV with no remote control!  

As I have already said, she came to pick me up from school for exeat weekends and half terms.  My grandfather would sit on the bonnet of the car and wait for me.  Not my grandmother, she loved the celebrity status of the lady in her best clothes, shoes, hat and white gloves. Everyone thought she was so sweet.  She was my Queen Mother!

So, not Alice Bell Ceramics but Oakslade Ceramics.  Oakslade is the name of our home and that is where I make all my ceramics in the converted garage, so it seemed more fitting.

It’s a very inspiring location.  It is very quiet and still.  The studio doors are almost always open and I can see all the roses that my husband, Martin and I planted last year.   My fellow companions are Bertie (Bert) my trusty workhorse. He’s an old man but I love him. 

Ernie (Ern) the other old man in my studio has recently been replaced by Barbara, my new beautiful kiln.  

Meet Bertie, Ernie & Barbara