Fodor's Expert Review Belleek Pottery

On the riverbank stands the visitor center of Belleek Pottery Ltd., producers of Parian china; a fine, eggshell-thin, ivory porcelain shaped into dishes, figurines, vases, and baskets. There's a factory, showroom, exhibition, museum, and café. You can watch a 20-minute audiovisual presentation or join a 30-minute tour of the factory, where you can get up close and talk to craftspeople—there's hardly any noise coming from machinery in the workshops. Everything here is made by hand just as workers did back in 1857. The showroom is filled with beautiful but pricey gifts: a shamrock cup-and-saucer set costs about £59, and a Classic Connemara vase at £45. The company has a jewelry portfolio called Belleek Living featuring designs inspired by the Irish landscape. The most recent and somewhat unusual addition, which has found a new niche for a specialist customer in the U.S. market, is the production of a funeral urn. This is a bespoke Irish-themed urn, handcrafted as part of an elaborate process by casting a mold which is then cast in liquid clay, glazed and decorated with a shamrock.