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A hand-painted Cromarty Pottery dish with a striped cat, on a wooden shelf.
Easter Ross

Cromarty Pottery

A pottery on Shore Street in Cromarty making hand-thrown terracotta ware painted with cavorting ladies, birds and beasts, now sharing a cottage with Gallery 48.

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Welcome

On Shore Street in Cromarty, a stone cottage by the water is filled with pots: mugs, jugs, bowls, platters and teapots in warm terracotta, each painted by hand with cavorting ladies, flowers, birds and animals.

Cromarty Pottery has been making them here since 1966.

The potter today is Barbel Dister. She trained as a tile-stove builder in Hamburg, worked in potteries across Germany, France and Scotland, and came to Cromarty in 1990 to work for Alison Dunn, who had founded the pottery with her husband Alastair. When they retired she took it on, and in 2006 she rebuilt the old workshops in their three-hundred-year-old buildings.

Every piece is thrown or built by hand and decorated with slips and pigments. The pottery now shares its cottage with Gallery 48, and it takes commissions for weddings, births and anniversaries. It opens every day in summer and from Tuesday to Sunday in winter, and closes from Christmas Eve to the end of January.

Round the cornerThe Fishertown InnA gastropub in the old town of Cromarty, with a wide menu, plenty to drink and a cosy nook of books by the fire.1 min by roadSee itInside the Fishertown Inn in Cromarty, a long bar of blue panelling and wooden floors with tables by the windows.
Before you go

Open every day in summer, 10.30am to 5pm; in winter Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays; closed from Christmas Eve to the end of January.

Where
48 Shore Street, Cromarty, IV11 8XL.
Summer
Every day, 10.30am to 5pm.
Winter
Closed Mondays.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
10.30am–5pm
Tuesday
10.30am–5pm
Wednesday
10.30am–5pm
Thursday
10.30am–5pm
Friday
10.30am–5pm
Saturday
10.30am–5pm
Sunday
10.30am–5pm
Where it is

At 48 Shore Street in Cromarty, in the Gallery 48 cottage by the shore, IV11 8XL.

Close byCromarty.
  1. Craft shop interior with jewellery cabinets, an RNLI lifeboat model and daffodils on the countergallery48Under a mile1 min by road
  2. Ingrid's HouseA small gift shop in Cromarty full of Scandinavian homewares, jewellery and bright designs for the home.Under a mile1 min by road
  3. Cromarty lighthouse's white tower and keepers' cottages behind the sea wall under a stormy sky.Cromarty LighthouseThe Stevenson lighthouse along the shore.Under a mile1 min by road
  4. Cromarty FerryCromarty FerryThe little summer ferry to Nigg.Under a mile2 min by road
  5. A Micro Can canning machine fills tins beside steel brewery fermentation tanksCromarty Brewing CompanyCraft beer at Davidston.3 miles6 min by road
Directions
Inside the Fishertown Inn in Cromarty, a long bar of blue panelling and wooden floors with tables by the windows.BarsThe Fishertown InnA step away
Calluna clothing shop with hanging baskets on Church StreetShoppingCallunaA step away
Terraced cottages line a narrow street, one house with a green corrugated gableAttractionsCromarty0.2 miles
Ochre-painted shop with slate roof and outdoor benches under a grey skyCafeSutor Creek Café0.3 miles
Yellow "cinema" lettering on a dark corrugated building beside the waterAttractionsCromarty Cinema0.4 miles
The Renfrew Rose ferry docks at a slipway, an oil rig visible across the firthAttractionsCromarty Ferry Terminal0.4 miles
Wooden cabin with sloped roof and ramp, surrounded by autumn treesAttractionsRSPB Udale Bay5.3 miles
Kirkmichael's restored red sandstone church among old gravestones, a gravel path winding through the grass.AttractionsKirkmichael6.5 miles
Living room with red sofa, patterned ottoman and staircase behindBalblairNewhall MainsPlace to stay · 7.1 miles
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the pottery, and when each is next free.

Living room with red sofa, patterned ottoman and staircase behindNewhall Mains
  • To stay
  • In Balblair
  • 6 miles from Cromarty Pottery
Check datesA curved cabin clad in overlapping wooden shingles stands on gravel among wildflowers, arched windows and a door along one side.Boath Cabin
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Easter Ross
  • 10 miles from Cromarty Pottery
Free 16–18 OctCulbin Edge, Inverness-shireCulbin Edge
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Easter Ross
  • 12 miles from Cromarty Pottery
Free 9–11 NovA grand stone mansion glows with lit windows at dusk, bare autumn branches framing the facade.Links House at Royal Dornoch
  • To stay
  • In Dornoch
  • 14 miles from Cromarty Pottery
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in Easter RossAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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