Dartington Crystal

We found the staff very polite and helpful. The tour was really fascinating, I could watch them all day with the glass. They are so skilled and everything seemed to run so smoothly. I would highly recommend this place to visit and to support this unique place as the only one in the country.

Just completed the tour of Dartington Crystal in the expert hands of Ellie. We have a friend who needed to visit the factory for work and we took a tour while she was busy. We met the master engraver and Ellie took us through the manufacturing process of our favourite glasses in huge detail. Highly recommended and many thanks to Ellie.

If in the area make sure you visit the Darlington Crystal Factory. You can do the factory tour to see how the crystal glass ware is made and also whilst there visit the factory shop for some fabulous glass ware; we made some lovely purchases We had our hands cast in glass which is a lovely moment of our visit. If you want to do that make sure you go early in the week so you can collect your casting before going home. Ours was posted but I cannot fault their customer service. The casting arrived really quickly. There is also a Gin Bar to visit and a very nice cafeteria with excellent food and choice all freshly made. Edinburgh Mill Shop is also on site so something for everyone.

I have been on quite a few factory tours in my time and have always been fascinated by the mechanical processes involved in producing the final product. However, the Dartington tour is different in that most of the process is all manual with only the final stages relying on mechanical processes. The skill involved in the glass blowing is mind blowing when you see the teams working as one and then think about the items that you will at a later date see in a retail store and be amazed that the items are all essentially hand made and yet on display are to all intents and purposes identical but then consider that as they are hand made in fact each piece is unique! How many factories can report that all their products are hand made?
My first time here but it won’t be the last!

Take time to visit the Factory Shop where there are quite a few baragins to be had.

Additionally the onsite Cafe has a wide menu and quality is good and prices very reasonable.

PS If you don’t have and kind of discount entry offer to hand when arriving, pop into the factory shop where there are leaflets that will give you £2.50 off the cost of entry.

On a 2 day trip to Cornawll the first day was dull and overcast so Dartington Glass was ideal. From arrival to the unescorted tour to watch production was seamless having looked at the introduction displays first. Being able to watch, for as long or short as you liked the process was a scene of great choreography wdnign up with a perfect glass. Afterwards a visit to the shop was not to be missed. We happenned upon Lauren Bowden who is the “in house engraver”. The result of this meeting are 3 sets of tumblers with illustrations of cars, from photos I sent her. The end result is STUNNING and will be much appreciated gifts. Don’t miss visiting this factory, is “old school” manual production.