Old Stables Studio
Polly Checkland Harding
Old Stables Studio hosts workshops and courses for students of pottery and ceramics of all abilities and experience levels – from weekend starter courses to half day studio sessions and ten-week long terms for afternoon or evening classes. The spacious, welcoming studio is five minutes’ walk from Hebden Bridge station and is equipped with ten electric wheels, two electric kilns, a slab roller, and a large collection of hand tools and base moulds. The focus at the Old Stables Studio is on teaching throwing techniques, but classes do also cover skills including pinch and coil pots, glazing and decorating, slip trailing, garden pots, planters and more.
Complete beginners might like to try the studio’s three hour Taster Session, which is a fantastic introduction to the potter’s wheel. Tuition, materials and tea and coffee are all included, and there’s the chance to have two of your best attempts at a breakfast bowl and beaker fired and glazed to be collected at a later date. Weekend on the Wheel courses are more intensive, though still suitable for beginners; an opportunity to master some of the basics on the wheel, or continue with a project in hand for those more experienced, these six-hour Saturday and Sunday sessions include firing of up to six of your best pots, and a simple, homemade vegetarian lunch, with unlimited cups of tea and coffee.
Glasgow School of Art graduate Edyn Culverwell is behind the running of the studio, while Lizzie Wharton helps on the organisation and administration side. The Old Stables also doubles as an Airbnb, with a private double bedroom, shower room and toilet, and access to the kitchen which is used to make tea and coffee for the other pottery studio participants. Guests are provided with the ingredients for a simple continental breakfast – and it’s the perfect place to stay if you’re visiting Hebden Bridge for a weekend course. In fact, the classes at the Old Stables Studio are well worth traveling for, especially when paired with a day exploring the very best the town has to offer.
