Full Service

I recognise it’s a luxury to be able to choose where to spend our money, especially where quality is concerned. It took us quite some time to recognise that even when buying such a simple thing as a flowerpot, paying a bit more might be worthwhile.

We first came across Whichford Pottery when the friend who designed our garden suggested we might like to go to the pottery and find one or two pots we liked. We gulped at their prices but felt reassured by her assurance that “you’ll get what you pay for”, especially in terms of “frost proofness”. We took her word for it and made a modest selection.

We still have those first pots, which remain intact whilst those around them have crumbled.

Since then, we’ve been to the pottery many times, often coming home with a (smallish) pot or two from their sale. We’ve mail ordered pots for wedding gifts and for other celebrations too, such as Amy’s first Chelsea Flower Show, safe in the knowledge that whatever we chose would be great.

One visit, we spotted a “different” pot that took our fancy and which followed us home some days later as a birthday present.

We love our elephant which stands on an elevated path above our drive and is planted with tulip bulbs and a small hosta .

This morning, I recognised there is one corner of our garden that never features in my photographs. Though I’ve taken hundreds - maybe thousands - of pictures of the garden in all seasons, I have only one picture of the small niche at the turn of a flight of steps near the kitchen door. It’s that niche which needed something special when it was created; a focal point of some kind.

It will come as no surprise that we went to Whichford and chose a large - very large - Eclipse pot.

Our friends, also Whichford fans, gave us a smaller, spotty version a couple of Christmases ago and we love the peculiar shape and the hand build quality of both. Every time I look at the inside, I can see the maker’s handprints and their initials. The pride they take in such individual work is appreciated and we love both pots, even if they do present a challenge to plant up successfully.

Imagine my reaction the other day, then, when I looked out of the kitchen window at our very big pot. Having never taken a photo from this spot, I grabbed my camera and ran outside for a closer look. Is that water running down the front?

Unfortunately not.

It’s a huge crack, from top to bottom.

For the next week or so, both my Hero and I looked at our lovely pot and hoped for an answer. I looked at the other side and felt relieved that the pot hadn’t broken in two halves and was unlikely to fall open like a clam shell. I also rather liked the line of the crack in a strange way, especially after it snowed and the snow crystals formed a kind of coded message in there! Slowly, I began to see a possibility: what about a repair along Japanese lines, maybe with gold filler?

Better get some advice then.

From the maker.

I emailed Whichford and had a phone call in return. Rebecca’s first words were “It’s not terminal!”

Phew.

There followed step by step reassurance and instructions for making the repair together with the news that she’d put a couple of packs of terracotta Milliput in the post to us already. Oh, and yes, the gold leaf technique would look great and works well - they had got examples in their pottery and once the initial repair is complete, the application of the gold will be relatively straightforward.

What fantastic service, especially since, before calling us, Rebecca had checked to see how old our pot was.

We bought it in 2000.

I foresee adding a few more Whichford pots to our collection without doubt.