A little day out to the Emma Bridgewater factory.

On Sunday Mr Lil and I decided to take our new car out for a little drive so we popped along to the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke. I totally love all thing Emma Bridgewater and over the last few years I have managed to build up quite a little collection. Most of our bits and bobs are from the polkadot collection but we do have the odd bit from other collections too. I just love how collectible it all is yet still has a modern feel to it as opposed to the age old view of that if you collect pottery then you must also be at home knitting and wearing your twinset and pearls (both of which I also love).

Anyway, we haven't been to the factory for a good few months as we were lucky enough to celebrate a big anniversary this year and had lots of lovely EB items bought for us and then I received the fabulous polkadot teapot as a belated Christmas present too so all in all our collection has grown in recent months. However, we had decided that we wanted to increase our place settings to 6 and also just have a mooch about! Well well well, we were in for a surprise!! Since we last went Emma Bridgewater have developed a lovely garden area with an array of pretty flowers and delicious smelling herbs growing and then the most exciting thing is that they have chickens!!! I was so excited by this! Mr Lil and I have been considering getting some chickens for a while now so it was quite something to see them at EB too!

The shopping trip was very successful! We got our extra place settings and then also managed to pick up a lovely polkadot jug and also a pretty polkadot hearts plate with I Love You written on it, super cute!! All in all a good day!

If you're not familiar with the Emma Bridgewater factory then they also have a decorating studio there where you can pick any piece of plain pottery and then decorate it as you choose. This is such a wonderful idea and a really good activity to do with children in the school holidays, an alternative hen party, a fabulous treat for best friends (I intend to do this with mine very soon) and just generally a lovely way to spend a few hours. The cost of the decorating studio is just £2.95 plus the cost of the pottery so I really think that this is a complete bargain. There is even a tea shop there that sells refreshments and a selection of delicious cakes!

I am aware that this blog post has maybe turned in to an Emma Bridgewater review and that isn't how it is meant to read at all. I just think that they are a fabulous company with wonderful items and really strong company ethics! Something that you don't often find nowadays!

On another note, the diet is going really well! I lost 5lb last week which I was really pleased about. I am feeling much healthier too as we are eating a really healthy and varied diet. I'll be back soon with more diet tales, perhaps even some recipes.

Thanks to all for your lovely and supportive comments on my previous post!

xxx