Who has been recently? What kinds of "deals"
are there? How far is it from Budapest? Can we go by bus/train?

Thanks!

If anyone is still interested in this info:
Their official site is www.herend.com.
Another factory worth looking into is Zsolnay, which is in Pecs. Very different styles but also very famous and good quality.
And a third one is Hollohaza: http://www.hollohaza.hu/rt/english.htm.

You can go by bus or train, it is best to ask at your hotel or a local travel agent for instructions.
The Herend factory has a restaurant, museum and an outlet store. I think you can get the best prices there on new items. Check out the website for examples on prices.

It's easy to get from Prague to Budapest via train. We stopped off in Vienna for a couple of days but I believe it takes about 7 hours. I'm sure you can take a sleeper train. This site has some very generous information about trains.
I'm not sure what you mean by "deals". We booked our hotel through Priceline and we were extremely happy. We bought lovely pieces of embroidery from a woman on the street but most that we saw in shops were of very poor quality.
Have a great time.