This article was originally published on Hubpages in 2010. I'm going to slowly transfer all my Hubpages material to here. Pretty Ugly Pottery Overlooking the River Mersey stands a relatively new, spacious two-storey building once owned by Pretty Ugly Pottery. The ground floor offered a large pottery shop display area, a cafeteria, the Have-A-Go area where visitors could try their hand at making their own Ugly Mug, plus the production area itself. Everything was brand new, including the staff who spent a month travelling to Rhos-on-Sea in Wales to train at the pottery factory's original site on a small industrial estate. This older site had been making the world-famous Ugly Mugs for years already and was purely for production, fulfilling orders which were then sold at gift shops around Britain or shipped across to Europe and America. The Liverpool site attracted international visitors, school groups, special needs groups and coach-loads of tourists who could enjoy a guided tour ...

  This article was originally published on Hubpages in 2013. I'm going to slowly transfer all my Hubpages material to here, and this is piece the first of those. Making a DIY Frog Pond Is Fun! Garden ponds add a beautiful and peaceful focal point to any garden. They are easy to maintain and fun to watch, and if you have children, ponds can also be educational. Ponds allow you to do your bit for the environment. Certain aquatic plants are great for attracting moths, which are the perfect food for bats. Birds will bathe in the pool shallows. Water beetles will quickly move in and make themselves at home. And amphibians will prove to be fascinating, especially in spring when frogs and toads need ponds to breed in. Frogs and toads spend much of their lives out of water. However, they often prefer to be near water and will enjoy the shade provided by marginal plants. Building a Pond Building a pond is easier than you might assume. Amphibians need to be able to climb out of the water eas...