Welcome to Angels Farm Pottery – a little sanctuary in the New Forest countryside where clay, creativity, and community come together.

I’m Jo Osman, and I’ve been working with clay for over 60 years. What began as a fascination watching a potter at a village fete has turned into a lifelong love of this craft. Pottery isn’t just about making something with your hands – it’s about finding space, expressing yourself, and slowing down.

I created The Pottery Slowdown not just to teach, but to offer a place where people can take a breath, recentre themselves, and connect with their own creativity.

In recent years, I’ve been joined by my daughter Lyndsey Stride, who brings her own energy, teaching experience, and warmth to the pottery. She’s grown up here and now teaches alongside me, supporting potters at every stage of their journey.

People come here for all sorts of reasons – to improve their throwing, to rediscover their creativity, or simply to enjoy a bit of peace and pottery in good company. But again and again, they tell us this place feels like an oasis, a therapy, a sanctuary.

So, whether you’ve just started your pottery journey or you’re looking to deepen your skills, we’d love to welcome you into our peaceful, creative, biscuit-fueled world!

Our Pottery Slowdown courses are for anyone who’s already fallen in love with clay – whether you’re still getting to grips with the wheel or you’ve got one at home and want to develop your technique. These weekends are an opportunity to step away from the rush, reconnect with your creativity, and spend focused time refining your skills in a working pottery.

You’ll be taught by Jo and Lyndsey in a peaceful, nurturing space, where learning is as much about flow, play and exploration as it is about outcomes. No two courses are ever quite the same – because we tailor them to you. That might mean practising taller forms, working on consistency, tackling handles and lids, or exploring surface decoration with slips.

We use a range of Rhode, Shimpo and Potterycrafts electric wheels, and the clay? That’s something special too. We make our own right here at the pottery, and it’s one of the first things returning potters comment on – soft, forgiving, and a joy to throw with.

Whether you leave with a shelf of pots or one treasured piece, you’ll head home with new skills and a renewed connection to your practice

Jo Osman founded the pottery in 1974, having trained at West Surrey College of Art and Design after three inspiring years teaching pottery in California. During her studies, she spent time with renowned potter Gwyn Hanssen in France – an experience that shaped her approach to craftsmanship, patience, and the quiet attention to detail that still defines her work today.

Jo has explored many clays and firing techniques over the decades, but her heart lies in reduction-fired stoneware and porcelain – pottery that’s made to be used, touched, and loved. Her forms and decoration reflect the rhythm of rural life and the landscape she grew up in, here at Angel’s Farm, as a farmer’s daughter.

Though she has exhibited her work, Jo prefers something quieter: welcoming people to the pottery to see where the pieces are made, to sit at a wheel themselves, and to experience the place that continues to shape her as a potter.

These days, teaching is her focus – alongside her daughter Lyndsey. Many of their students return again and again, not just to develop their skills, but to step into the calm, creative rhythm that defines this place.