For some considerable time I have been using classic white tableware to heighten the appearance of the dishes I cook and photograph. Now I am being seduced by spots – large green and purple spots set against a white background – but not because I contemplate starting another women’s suffrage movement, for which these colours stand.

These are the colours that the dynamic design duo, Stephen and Jane Baughan, of Aston Pottery, Aston, have chosen for the tableware they are using in their new café, which was part of the Pottery’s £1m expansion plan that was completed last November.

Their aim, when founding the Aston Pottery in 1990, was to use traditional methods to produce a wide and very colourful range of tableware that would be designed, made and painted on site, in a restored stable block and barn.

Over the years, Stephen has come up with more than 120 patterns and 45 different shapes. There are two distinct collections – the rustic, rural and cottage style that reflects the traditions and values of the original building, and a vibrant range of colourful contemporary pieces, including the spotty design I have come to admire so much.

When the pottery re-opened the doors of their gleaming new showroom and café last year, this was a dream come true for this enterprising couple.

They wanted a café adjoining their showroom that would act as a showcase for their designs, yet offer visitors a food-experience at the same time.

This is exactly what they now have. It’s all very impressive, particularly as the same attention to detail and local craftsmanship has gone into the building as the menu. The new buildings have been designed to highlight the traditions of Aston village where bricks were made around the turn of the last century. Stephen and Jane managed this by incorporating 30,000 bricks, handmade by the same company that made bricks for the recently re-developed St Pancras Station. They believe the bricks reinforce the message that jugs, plates and dishes are made with clay just as bricks are.

To reflect the quality of the food, Stephen came up with his stylish spotty contemporary design for the café tableware.

That decision didn’t take long to work through, but when it came to compiling a workable menu for the new café, Stephen and Jane took their time deciding exactly which local foods they would list on their menu.

Stephen said: “We wanted the menu to develop gradually, so we actually started with a few homemade cakes, filled rolls, jacket potatoes and homemade soup.

“Then we began to experiment with things like the homemade caramelised onion sausage rolls made with sausage meat that which we get from the award-winning Bampton butcher, Patrick Strainge. They went down really well,” he said.

Gradually the cooks added a few more things to the menu, all of which were sourced locally where possible and cooked from scratch in the new state-of-the-art kitchen.

A typical lunch menu now features dishes such as chicken, bacon and tarragon pie, fish pie, and Somerset brie and roasted pepper flan, all of which are served with fresh salad and coleslaw garnish at a very reasonable price.

However, it’s the cakes that now attract visitors from miles around. Celia O’Brian, the head cook, and her crew bake more than 20 different kinds of cakes, offering a choice of at least ten every day. It’s an ongoing process – as one cake is sold another is placed in the oven, which means they are remarkably fresh and there is a wonderful aroma of freshly-baked cakes drifting around the café.

The carrot cake, which is one of the best-sellers, is so moist and tasty that regular customers seldom look any further.

There’s a classic chocolate cake for chocoholics, and a glorious banana and chocolate cake, which is a firm favourite with the younger visitors.

And if you like the flavour of coffee, there’s a coffee cake, which is finished off by drizzling freshly-brewed coffee over the cake while it is still warm from the oven.

Each of these cakes is baked from a tried and tested country recipe, to which Celia adds a modern twist. Having been lucky enough to taste of several different slices during my visit, I can confidently say you would be hard pushed to find a more delicious homemade cake, unless you make it yourself.

Naturally a selection of home-baked scones and small individual cakes features on the menu too.

Stephen explained that when developing the café menu, he kept reminding himself that what they were aiming for was a selection of good honest, wholesome, tasty food. Nothing too fancy however – he wanted the ingredients, the cook’s skill and the final flavour to combine and produce the perfect taste experience. “One of our aims was to create a nice event for people visiting the pottery, and at the same time give them a chance to appreciate the way the appearance of food can be enhanced when served on attractive pottery,” he said.