30: Emma Bridgewater

Bunny is talking to Emma Bridgewater in her seaside garden.

Emma tells Bunny about starting up her business at the tender age of 23 - it now has a turnover of £30,000,000 - and how her stepfather’s accountant ‘begged her to desist’, not realising her determination, and how she wanted to help revive and preserve the pottery tradition at the potteries at Stoke-on-Trent. The days the factory not only produces thousands of pieces of pottery each week, but also has a factory garden, where she holds a literary festival most years. Emma was president of the CPRE (Council for Protection for Rural England), which highlights her passion for all things rural.

Emma talks about how she developed rheumatoid arthritis due to her frenetic lifestyle, and how she has managed to overcome it with help from outdoor spaces, her garden and learning how ‘to walk back to herself’.

Emma’s appreciation of gardens comes originally from her two grannies who were both keen but very different gardeners. Emma’s garden contains two verandas, important covered spaces for enjoying the fresh air in all weathers. She talks about how she designed the verandas, her treatment of her pelargoniums, her love of herbs and her meadow. Plus how she added her amazing look out point with sea views created from a reclaimed metal staircase. Emma chats about her proposal to make a greenhouse from reclaimed windows that she is just about to embark on.

To see Emma’s garden and kitchen see Bunny’s YouTube video ‘Emma Bridgewater’s kitchen, garden, veranda and lookouts’.

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