From Piggery to Pottery

When we viewed the property for the first time, I was able to visualise myself working in the pottery, looking out a window across a field of sunflowers. I must have an overactive imagination as the field had yet to be sown and I was actually standing in the doorway of a pig stall that was filled with decades of accumulated rubbish.

The piggery had 3 stalls, one of which had an upper floor made of thin terracotta breezeblocks (called bardots in French). The first job was to remove this upper floor and then knock down the internal walls to make one large space. Easier said than done as I am not a builder by trade nor do we own the appropriate tools. Nevertheless, armed with nothing more than a chisel, hammer, bucket and wheelbarrow the task was accomplished.

My aim was to create an attractive, light and airy space without destroying the charm of the building, so I have kept all the exposed beams and the high ceiling. The original doors were very small, as they were not intended for humans to pass through. This meant the floor had to be dug out by a couple of feet (sorry, I’m an “imperial” girl) that quickly turned into a sticky quagmire when I reached the heavy clay that the house stands on (somewhat appropriate for a pottery don’t you think?) The walls are constructed of stone but have seen many a practical repair in their time hence the whole lot was painted white - thereby disguising the concrete, brick and breezeblock whilst still showing the basic structure. A pottery studio, by its very nature, is nothing more than a glorified kitchen; it’s just the cooked ingredients that are different. So after installing worktops, cupboards, water, electric and my precious Kiln, “hey presto”, Xandra Ceramics Poterie de la Fermette was created.

It may have taken 18 months to achieve but it’s been a great learning curve - all of which will be put to good use when we convert part of the house into a 3-bedroom gîte, but I’ll leave that for another website and another blog!