We moved to Rochechouart in Haute-Vienne in January 2023, when we both retired. I was a head teacher in a primary school and my husband Jeremy was a mechanic.
We love living in France. In fact, we wake up every day feeling guilty that we can do whatever we like.
When I left my school, one of the retirement gifts was a set of three pottery lessons, so I went along thinking I'm not going to like this... and fell in love with it.
I bought a small, second-hand wheel, so we were always looking for a place with room to set it up.
Since moving here, I have been able to completely immerse myself in pottery.
Potter Sarah PattersonSarah Patterson
Just after we moved, I found a pottery teacher and went for lessons to refine everything I'd learnt. But for the last year I've just been working in my studio alone.
I sourced a kiln online and I have two wheels now.
Mugs
I have made so many things that Jeremy jokes we no longer need to wash mugs up, we can just throw dirty ones over our shoulders, we have so many of them.
He challenged me to see how big a bowl I could throw, and now I'm currently making containers with lids. You have to be very accurate to throw a lid of exactly the right size.
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I get inspiration from all sorts of things I see in French shops and markets, and I have also started doing some hand-building, making all the figurines for a crèche.
I was quite surprised how inspiring I found it, perhaps it was because it was a request.
I love making things specially for people, because it makes me think about them.
I made a night lamp for my youngest granddaughter, and my youngest grandson keeps a whole shelf of things I've made including a dinosaur mug, plates, bowls, a Blippi [children’s TV character] mug... it's always inspiring making things especially for him.
After having stomach surgery recently, my daughter could not eat large meals and needed smaller plates and bowls, so I custom-made them for her.
We are waiting to get our visas sorted out, so I can't register as a micro-entrepreneur for the moment, but I'm thinking I might set up an association in the end.
Then I could run workshops, do demonstrations, and even sell some of the things I've made in order to cover the costs (electricity, clay, glazes, tools, etc).
My tips for prospective potters
If you are thinking of taking up pottery, get some lessons first so you are minimally competent, and also to check that you do really love it.
I bought my wheel (tour de potier) from a specialist shop in Limoges and I get most of my supplies, tools, clay and glazes at the same place.
I bought my kiln second hand from an ad on Facebook. It is a small kiln which heats up to 1200C so we didn't need to get it professionally installed, which is required for a hotter or larger one.
The clay comes vacuum packed so keeps for ages unopened, but it can go dry if you don't store it properly once it's open.
A not-for-profit (Loi 1901) association can be created online here - or can be done at the local prefecture. It is free, and confirmation usually arrives within a week.
If selling craft items made by members is stated as one of the association's founding activities in the statutes, this is permitted – as long as profits are used to cover association costs rather than to benefit a private individual.
Associations can sometimes get grants from their local mairie to buy equipment or materials.
