A Guiding Life

I was on the way up north with a friend and we drove past a sign that said parking for poppies. So without any idea what it was about we followed it. It took us to a carpark with a bus stop (and coffee stop). The bus takes you to Middleport pottery. We walked rather than get the bus, it took about 10 minutes.

The route is marked by poppies

And takes you past interesting sights. I was in the right mood so it felt almost northerly spiritual. In the wrong mood it would just be a shithole!

Anyhoo...

The poppy path leads you to the entrance of Middleport potteries. This is a nice place in its own right, craft shops, a tearoom, and a rather interesting steam engine room.

It is free to get in but you do need a ticket, I guess that is to control the numbers.

We were there before it opened on a very wet Sunday morning. Being as the hoards had not yet arrived, they let us in.

We didn't stop at the shops but went straight to the exhibition.

These are the poppies from the Tower,
Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent is the last regional tour venue (until the 16th September 2019) before it moves to the Imperial War Museum London.

We wandered back through the wet pottery but didn't stop to shop.

It's quite atmospheric.

We walked back towards the carpark but detoured along the canal a little.

There was a boat there selling tea and staffordshire oatcakes. They are very good. There was a tv crew about to go to the boat to film it, they were worthy of being filmed!