Most potters - Hugh is one - want their pots to be used, rather than kept on a shelf where they won't be broken. We use almost all of the many pieces we have acquired over the years. It suddenly occurred to me that I should make a photographic record just in case one was accidentally 'lost'.

This first piece is a wood-fired jug of Hugh's, the first I ever bought. I didn't know him yet but he supplied tableware to the kitchen shop in Truro where I was working over 20 years ago. The beginning of a beautiful story!

The lovely blue jug is used almost every day to hold red wine. Barry Huggett made it when he worked in our pottery near Truro. He gave it to me as payment for some calligraphy I put on an order of his. It is always admired by visitors.

I decorated this breakfast bowl for Joe when he was little. It's made of earthenware with white slip and stains. It represents Joe's cat, Misty.

This honorable old earthenware dish comes from the Andalucian mountains in Southern Spain. We keep eggs in it so it is an example of a pot that has been in daily use for many decades. We love it because it reminds us of holidays: the heat, the herds of goats, the view over the Mediterranean as far as Morocco. The cold gin and tonic at sunset!

Our cousins in America sent me some money as a house-warming gift when we moved to France in 2000. I chose one of Svein Hjorth-Jensen's gorgeous teapots. Svein's workshop and home are in our village of La Borne.

Another wonderful teapot, made by Seung Ho Yang, a Korean potter from a neighbouring village. It must be almost 30 years old and dates from the beginning of Hugh's friendship with Seung Ho in the early 80s.

I will show more of our pottery collection soon. Then our pots will have a wide audience and be preserved forever in photograph form.

Click on the pics!