Last week I headed to Aurora, New York alongside a group of fabulous bloggers to experience #CampCourtlyCheck… a trip with the MacKenzie-Childs team, touring the factory, lunching with the CEO, making pottery, and dining on endless checkered dinnerware! I am excited to share a few more details on the trip in today’s post!

We arrived in Aurora, NY, which is literally one road and population 500 {about 300 of which work at MacKenzie-Childs}, so small! And we were taken to our quaint bed and breakfast, the E.B. Morgan House of the Aurora Inns {my photo below is of the Rowland House right next door}. Every room came with a marble fireplace and the downstairs level was a series of cozy lounge rooms, dining rooms and even an outdoor terrace.

Our first day started with a tour of the Aurora Inns, followed by a wine tasting, and dinner in the pub basement where MacKenzie-Childs actually began. That night we ate with the director of Marketing and dined off all MacKenzie-Childs dishes and glassware {which remained true the entire trip no matter which restaurant or venue we dined at!}.

The next day was a busy one. We started with a tour of the MacKenzie-Childs factory stopping by each station to observe another step in the tedious and intricate pottery process.

Blogger attendees: A Piece of Toast, TomboyKC, StyleCusp, Fashionable Hostess, & Carrie Bradshaw Lied

Local artists filled each room, hand shaping pottery, painting patterns, and loading up the kilns for burning. It was truly remarkable. The part I enjoyed most was watching a woman paint the famous Courtly Check pattern on to a bowl, one by one, check by check. I had no idea that the brand was most known for the fact that they hand-paint each of their beautiful pieces!! Below is a glimpse at one of the artist’s painting station as she painted dots on to an Easter bunny.

For lunch we headed to the MacKenzie-Childs Farm House, a preserved historic home on the property, that they transformed into a head to toe MacKenzie-Childs home. Wallpaper, light fixtures, rugs, tables, dishes, literally every single item. It was truly amazing, and since there are so many patterns, they gave each room a color story or motif to highlight the various ones… I actually had no idea so many different types and colors existed.

Of course my favorite rooms were the ones with pink accents like the kitchen and an upstairs girls bedroom with a pink bathtub! After dining with the CEO of the company for lunch we headed to checkout the grounds of the property — in the Spring they plant over 60,000 tulip bulbs, so you can imagine how gorgeous it is. Other features included a chicken house, various bee hives, and other random farm animals. Lastly we were taken into the factory to mold our own mugs… a craft I knew would be hard and tedious {and it was!!}, which really raised my appreciation for the daily work of the people working there.

That evening we dined at the Aurora Inn with Creative Director of the company, Rebecca, who could not be a better representative of the brand. Passionate, energetic, artistic, and dare I say eccentric … a total creative type who lives and breathes the brand. Our dinner was delicious but once again the stunning MacKenzie-Childs tablescape that blew me away.

The next day I headed home with new friends, a whole new love of the brand, and some exciting news!! I will be featured in the next MacKenzie-Childs catalogue, styling their brand new Thistle & Bee Collection… here’s a little teaser of what I created below!! I can’t wait to share the real photography soon! Thank you so much to MacKenzie-Childs for hosting my on such a fabulous trip!

Please excuse the quality of these photos as they were taken on my iPhone!

Thank you to MacKenzie-Childs for hosting me on this trip.