It was a search for a place to sell my goose eggs that took me to the pub and pottery where Geoff and his wife Pat live and work and they have both been an inspiration and a source of encouragement to me ever since.

Geoff and  Pat, who is also a ceramicist,  have given me the encouragement and confidence to   gradually develop my own creative style , working in earthenware using simple slips and glazes to create the highly decorative figures that are a feature of my work. Working closely with these much respected potters means I am also privileged to be part of the wider UK pottery community where I have received so much help and encouragement.

Andy and Di McInnes founders and organisers of Art in Clay have provided an amazing platform for me and I am also indebted to Jack Blackburn, one of the first serious collectors to buy my work very early in my career.

Unlike most  potters, I only ever concentrate on one piece at a time, modelling each by hand, so that it is uniquely different from its predecessor. 

I can honestly say that while I have admired many other ceramic artists over the years, nothing inspires me as much as Geoff Fuller’s figurative work which evokes the simplicity of early English earthenware of the  18th and 19th centuries.

But here I am now with my very own pottery based at the lovely Peak District smallholding where I brought up my two children Victoria and Ryan and which I have made my home with my husband Paddy.

There are certain things I have discovered about being a potter. One is that you need an infinite amount of patience, especially when the beautiful towering decorative centrepiece that took you weeks to create, can be lost at any stage – a piece may crack beyond repair at any time while being worked or during the firing.

I think this fragility is part of the beauty of earthenware. Two is that it can often be a solitary business, although I am lucky to have my Border terrier Mouse and my music to keep me company.

And last but not least is the power of a piece when you've created it. It truly seems to take on a life of its own, which I find absolutely enthralling.

As you may guess, I have come to pottery later than some having already lived an amazing life.

I was born in South Yorkshire but by the age of four my parents who were teachers had moved my older sister Nicky and I to Africa to run a school in Uganda.
It is difficult to imagine now just how remotely we lived and how brave my parents must have been.

I had to attend boarding school aged six, as the nearest primary was 50 miles away and this set the pattern for my education, as from age 11 I was dispatched to a school in the UK, returning to Africa for the long school holidays.

My parents moved with their work several times and by the time I was 16 I had lived in Mbarara, Rukungiri, Kabale, Kampala and Jinja. We moved to Nigeria when Amin came to power and after several happy years there I eventually settled in the Peak District.

Derbyshire was the obvious choice for me as I had spent my school years in Bakewell and as my children grew, I retrained and qualified as a Chiropodist in 1991. For the next 15 years I ran a small Clinic in Cheshire, until in 2006 a horse riding accident meant I could no longer practice. I decided to devote myself to my numerous animals (including those geese who laid those eggs) but look what happened? I found my vocation and for that I am eternally grateful.