We spent the day in Saffron Walden, a treat as it’s so remarkably unspoilt apart from far too much traffic.

We were encouraged to start at the church, close to the centre and light and airy:-

It’s surrounded by good old buildings:-

But the point of the visit was to see the Fry Art Gallery, which, to my shame, I have never seen in spite of the fact that it opened in 1985, 41 years ago, and shows the work of lots of artists whose work I admire, including Edward Bawden, John Aldridge and Eric Ravilious.

I was particularly intrigued to see a very early work by Grayson Perry, showing his origins in folk art traditions (I mean this as a compliment – it’s an Essex aesthetic, born in Great Bardfield, and fostered by Barbara Jones and Olive Cook in the 1950s):-

If you go, which I strongly recommend, then we were told – correctly – that the best place for lunch is Chater’s, worth going to just for lunch.