Close to the car park is Clovelly Pottery, a small workshop and showroom displaying ceramics made by the resident local artisan. Entrance is free and you may stroll around at your leisure without any obligation to buy. The potter wasn’t working during my visit, but she was delighted that I wanted to take some pictures of her creations. The showroom is upstairs, where you will find racks of colourful vases, jugs, plates, and tableware, all in vibrant colours and all reasonably priced.
Leaving the potter’s shop, head down the track past the Mount Pleasant gate to the kink in the path, where you will see in front of you the Victorian Fountain. This was built in 1901 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s visit to the village and is in working order today.
The village also boats two fine but tiny chapels for the ecclesiastically minded, the first being the Methodist chapel set back on the right behind the New Inn. The chapel dates from 1820 and in high summer is adorned with floral displays from the village’s gardens.
You may enter inside to see the beautiful murals behind the altar, painted in vibrant colours that would be just as at home in a deserted church on a Greek island.
The second chapel is that of St Peter, a little farther down and immediately behind the Kingsley shop and museum. This was opened in 1846 and is somewhat plainer than the former. Again, the door is usually unlocked, and I walked in to see a few rows of plain pews and a lectern on which the reading would take place.
Other sites worthy of mention are the Temple Bar Cottage at the lower end of the cobbled street, whose rooms actually pass over the walkway and the Oberammergau Cottage, sadly closed today, that features colourful wood carvings from Germany.
Plans are afoot to reinstate the donkeys for summer 2006, and a stable block is under construction as we speak, allowing lazy or incapacitated visitors to make the rough trip down to the harbour.