On every thought-through holiday itinerary is a special shop, and this summer, The Merchant’s Table is on ours. This contemporary craft store can be found on Church Street in Woodbridge, a pretty market town in east Suffolk. “When I bought the property—which I had loved for decades—it came with a Georgian shop at the front,” explains the owner, Susanna Cook. “Over the years, it has been a saddle-makers; a clock-makers; a gun shop; an antique shop, many of which were passed through generations of families.”
The ship-shape interior at The Merchant’s Table.
A selection of ceramics by the makers represented by The Merchant’s Table.
Hand-blown, lead crystal wineglasses and gold topaz “rummers” by Esmie Sharp (from £45). (And Orlando, the marmalade cat.)
The ceramicist Steven James Will has worked with The Merchant’s Table from the beginning; here, some of his candlesticks.
Susanna has also commissioned Steven to produce an ongoing series of cheese or cake presentation tiles (£125).
A display of hand-thrown English Delftware by Emily Mitchell (from £90).
Jo Hammond’s oval basket is made using twisted rush from the River Stour in Suffolk (from £95).