Vinegar Hill Pottery

VINEGAR HILL POTTERY

The small coastal village of Milford-on-Sea, in the New Forest in Hampshire, is delighted to have a new pottery to add to it’s numerous attractions. Vinegar Hill Pottery is now open to the public, and run by a young, enthusiastic and well established potter, David Rogers. There is nothing of its kind in the surrounding area, and Milford residents are pleased to have another feather to add to their artistic cap.

Rogers and his wife Lucy are originally from nearby Lymington but had been living and working in the centre of Bristol for the last eight years, until now. His acclaimed work is well known in the pottery world which, until now, he has sold at various galleries, shops and high brow craft shows, as well as completing wedding lists and commissions.

We ask him what brought him back from a thriving city environment to the more sedate life of Milford-on-Sea.“ From a business point of view we needed to have a house, pottery and outlet for my work all in one place," he said. "Bristol is a wonderful city but couldn’t really offer what we were looking for. Both myself and my wife are originally from this area and knew what a great quality of life we could have here for our family. "So when we saw that the property in Milford-On-Sea was the perfect building, with a pottery fronting onto Vinegar Hill, and a classic old oak-beamed loft space for a showroom upstairs, we went for it! "After six months of hard work we officially opened to the public in August for the Hampshire Artists Open Studios – to which we had a great response. "From now on my work is permanently on show here in Vinegar Hill, which is exciting for me and I hope will work well with the run up to Christmas. We are having a Christmas Sale from the 6th-9th of December when we will be offering coffee and mulled wine, but the showroom is always open.”

Rogers makes beautiful kitchen and tableware in functional stoneware clay, ranging from mugs to casserole dishes and cheeseboards. He also makes his own line of fabulous washbasins. Everything is thrown on the potters wheel and is very high fired, making the pots durable, oven and dishwasher/ microwave proof. His trademarks are his famous 'blue’ glaze, the circular throwing lines throughout the pots and his curled handles. Anyone who does pop in will have the added bonus of being able to see Rogers at work in the pottery.