I bought a barn owl! Yes, really! I bought a barn owl!
OK, it isn’t a real live one. It is a beautifully simple pottery owl, sitting on a post, looking as if he is dosing, but you know he has his hearing tuned in to any wee movement that could be a mouse, and is ready to fly and pounce!
I had come to Scone Palace with a group of U3A Arts group members as there was a spare place on the minibus and I had been invited to go along. 
I really didn’t have much of a clue about what we would see, but it would be nice to see the Palace, where past Kings of Scots were crowned on the Stone of Destiny, in the days before the union of the two countries of Scotland and England (Yes, we had our own monarch before 1603 when Elizabeth I of England died having named her heir as James VI of Scotland). In earlier days than that even, in 1296, the stone of Scone was captured and removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England, to London where it was incorporated in the throne of the English (and later British) monarchs. It was finally returned to the Scots in 1996, and now resides in Edinburgh Castle, while only a replica can be seen at Scone.
Anyway I didn’t get to see inside the Palace or the replica of the Stone, as the event we had come to – Potfest – was being held in marquees in front of the building. There were maybe 50 or more stalls, exhibiting and selling their pottery – so many ideas, styles, shapes, textures, sizes….. 
Some was very traditional: plates, cups, saucers, mugs, vases, but even then the styles varied from fine to chunky. 
There were a few different styles of planter too.
Colourful!
Novelty items included these figures, and a chess set.
These heraldic pieces were interesting!
There was also a variety of stalls selling animal pottery, and again the styles differed incredibly. 
Aren’t the boxing hares wonderful? And what about this fox? 
There were a few foxes by different potters, but I liked this one a lot.
I liked this one too; quite a different style. Then there was the orang-utan, very small and absolutely adorable.
Small pandas! and a life size badger! 
What talent! 
There were birds like the blackbird 
and the robins,
this wren and plenty more,
and owls…. masses of owls, 
which I liked a lot
but I was blown away by these owls…..
…..and so after a long debate with myself, I bought a barn owl!
Talk again soon.
2 comments:
He is a lovely barn owl, it looks like there were lots of interesting pieces of pottery there. I had no idea that it was going on. The palace is worth a look inside if you ever get a chance, there were also white peacocks in the grounds when we went there, I had never seen those before.
I only knew about it from the friends who asked me along - to fill up the minibus! It was amazing, the different styles and techniques people employed. These owls were by far my favourites, though I liked a lot of other works.
And yes, there was one white peacock striding around the garden among the tables and chairs overspill from the café/tearoom. I will go back there one of these days to see inside the palace.
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