Grove Hill Pottery & Farm

Leslie Bradsher finds inspiration for her pottery and fiber work from the surrounding Pisgah National Forest and her family farm, Grove Hill Farm. Grove Hill Farm, a North Carolina Century Farm near Old Fort, was established in 1839 by her great grandfather, Thomas Young Greenlee. Leslie moved her pottery operation to the farm in 2005 after she left the corporate world to work full time as a potter. Today she makes handcrafted functional pottery and decorative raku wall plaques. Her work covers a wide range of styles. She makes her own glazes and fires in a down draft gas kiln, a raku kiln, and an electric kiln.

Visitors to Grove Hill Pottery & Farm can see Leslie’s pottery studio while enjoying a chance meeting with the farm animals. Leslie raises Nigerian dwarf pygmy goats as pets and Angora goats and Alpacas for fiber. From the sheered fiber, she makes felted mittens, wrist warmers, scarfs, felted soap, hand spun yarn, and more. Visitors can learn how their fiber is processed to create one-of-a-kind wearable pieces of art.