Iconic’ family favourite pottery jug’s 10,000-mile journey from its remote home to a Sidmouth charity shop sparks donor hunt

A sentimental charity shop find in Sidmouth – spotted 10,000 miles from its remote Australian home – has sparked a woman’s hunt to track down its past owner.

Belinda Gidman-Rowse, from Ottery St Mary, has coveted a blue fairy wren Pilliga Pottery jug since 2021 after her brother, Dan Rowse, brought two back for their mum and grandmother when an Australian road trip amid the Covid lockdown ended in an unplanned detour.

Belinda, aged 37, who in 2012 relocated to Australia for a decade before returning to East Devon, was so surprised to find a near-identical jug in Sidmouth she asked her brother if he had brought a third gift back, sparking a flurry of family WhatsApp messages.

Now she is keen to find who donated the piece of pottery to the Fore Street Marie Curie charity shop, hoping to hear how it arrived in Sidmouth.

Belinda, who paid £6 for her own ‘iconic’ blue fairy wren jug, said the remote Australian pottery – described by the family-run business as an ‘oasis’  – can only be reached by driving down a 10km dirt track.

She said her brother and sister-in-law ended stayed for three months at the Pilliga Pottery and farm, in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, after a planned coastal Australian road trip was scuppered by the pandemic, ‘crazy’ weather and floods, then a van breakdown.

On his return to the UK, brother Dan, who also lives in Ottery, brought back two pottery jugs, each decorated with the blue fairy wren, which have stayed in the family ever since.

Belinda, of Longdogs Lane, Ottery, said: “They bought one back for our mum and one for our grandmother. They are really beautiful. They are so gorgeous. I thought I would like one.”

She said her brother laughed when she spotted a near-identical jug in the window of a charity shop in Sidmouth, some 10,000 miles from where he had picked up the gifts.

Belinda said: “It was a bizarre coincidence.  I was looking around the shops in Sidmouth when I saw it. I looked at the bottom and low and behold it had Pilliga Pottery on the bottom.

“It just caught my eye. It felt familiar, then when I picked it up and realised it was from Pilliga Pottery, I got excited.

“It just felt so strange that it had travelled all those miles from remote New South Wales back to Sidmouth. So first I checked with my brother and sister-in-law that they hadn’t given any other pieces out. And they hadn’t.

“I sent it on the family WhatsApp group. I asked ‘did you buy one for someone else and they sent it to a charity shop, after they’d had enough of it?’

She said: “Mum still has hers and my grandmother sadly passed away and my brother has it.  The two pieces they bought are accounted for.”

Belinda said: “I would love to know how it got here and who had it. The pottery place is so remote. To get to it is 10km down a dirt track. I am fascinated to find out if the person who donated went to Pilliga Pottery.

“I cannot believe the coincidence that I found it randomly, so close to home. I’m curious to hear its story and how it ended up here.”

A spokesperson for Marie Curie said the donor could be traced and contacted ,and Belinda’s details passed over, if the jug had a Gift Aid sticker on.

Adam Robinson, retail district manager for Marie Curie, said: “It’s always a delight to hear when someone finds a donation in our shops that means something to them and their loved ones – especially when it’s an unusual donation with a back story.

“We hope this appeal will help Belinda to connect with the donor.”

He added: “Marie Curie shops rely on generous donations from the public, and we are always extremely grateful to receive good quality donations from the local community and surrounding areas which allow us to raise funds to support people at the end of life, and their loved ones.”

·If you donated the Pilliga Pottery blue wren jug to the Marie Curie charity shop in Sidmouth, email news@devonairradio.com to be put in touch with Belinda.