The Great Pottery Throw Down’s Richard Miller has revealed he’s moving house – and the first thing he plans to build at his new home is a rather 'terrifying' pottery project.
The judge and potter – who currently lives in the Surrey Hills with his wife Anna, their daughter Bea, plus a dog and three cats – has shared that the family are in the process of selling their home and relocating to Shropshire.
Rich explained that the move is about creating a 'forever base' and taking on a long-term renovation project, following a period of reflection.
'My wife had breast cancer at the end of 2024. And it’s not until you go through it, as a family, that you can really appreciate the impact that it has,' he says. 'After all the surgeries and treatment, my wife’s been given the all-clear. We’re the lucky ones.'
He added that the experience prompted bigger questions about the future.
'With all the health stuff, it calls to mind “What do we want out of the next ten years of our lives?” Those sorts of questions. We’re not in our forever house, but we’re kind of keen to take on a project, so we’ve offered on a house up in Shropshire to make it our forever base.'
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One project that has been waiting in the wings is a hellmouth oven — a heavy-duty, wood-fired pizza oven with a wide, gaping black opening, scorched steel body and a furnace-like glow that makes it look more like an industrial kiln than a garden appliance.
'So I was planning to build the oven last summer, but that was just as we were deciding whether to move. So I never built it,' Rich explains. 'But I think the Shropshire house will be the place, and it will be one of the first things I’ll do when we move in. Much to my wife’s dismay. I’ve got all of the materials to make the hellmouth, so it’s just waiting to go.'
Rich admitted that delaying the build of a ‘terrifying oven in the garden’ may make selling their current home a little easier.
'That’s exactly right. It’s an acquired taste. Actually, we had a couple come to look at the house last weekend, and the woman was a potter, and she came in while I was working in the studio and went: “Oh my goodness, I knew the person who lived here was a potter, but I had no idea it was you.” And we then had a two-hour conversation about Throw Down, it was really nice. But I agree, a horrific beast sitting on the patio may not be the best selling point.'
• Watch The Great Pottery Throw Down series 9 on Sundays at 7.45pm, Channel 4
