Beach-combing is so absorbing I can lose hours just wandering, sitting, looking and hopefully finding. Blessed with the second biggest tidal range in the world on my doorstep, there is much to explore when the tide is out. The Limestone cliffs yield calcium rich pebbles with calcite veins and crystals. A conglomerate ridge generates quartz rich pebbles entwined with Jasper.
Infrequently there is even some flint to be found. This, along with cobbles of granite not native to Gower but to Scotland, is most likely to have arrived as a result of glacial transportation in a past ice age.
Dry Seaweed from the high tide line is a rich find too. With a bit of (careful) preparation it provides Soda ash, a valuable ingredient for use in clay bodies and in glaze.
I admire the adventurous work of ceramic artists Lotte Glob, Miranda Forrest and Aneta Regel Deleu, who also work with the natural elements around them including rock and organics. Their pieces are imbued with a deep connection to the landscape in which they live and work, with intriguing and striking results.