The origins of Dartington Pottery lie in the early 1930s when Bernard Leach and, later, his son David set up the first pottery at Shinners Bridge.

These inspirational beginnings were expanded upon when Sam Haile and his wife Marianne de Trey arrived in 1947, with Sam building two new kilns. Marianne went on to create a pottery producing desirable ware and also established an apprenticeship scheme which both echoed the earlier Leach initiative.

In 1983 the Dartington Pottery Training Workshop took over the premises and sold the enterprise to a triumvirate of potters including Stephen Course, who is an internationally acknowledged expert on glazes.

Dartington Pottery started an exciting new chapter in 2005 when it was acquired by Grayshott Pottery in Surrey. Run as an employees benefit trust, Grayshott shared a similar ethos and agreed to continue both to support the production and development of the Dartington Designs, and to re-establish the skills associated with the pottery.