For what it’s worth - you can have a lot of fun with a small budget wood lathe and not a lot of space. Pens, small bowls and plates, chess pieces… it’s not as s

For what it’s worth - you can have a lot of fun with a small budget wood lathe and not a lot of space. Pens, small bowls and plates, chess pieces… it’s not as spectacular as big slab tables, but it captures the same “show off beautiful figured wood and nice finishes” bit and it’s cheaper and less space intense. If you are really pressed for space, a small lathe is usually small enough that you could carry it outside when you wanted to turn something (you’d need something to clamp it to outside of course). Or you could have a shed setup - that’s pretty common. Some parts of the UK have real turning communities or guilds still, and they may offer courses or use of much nicer lathes there.