Watts Gallery is a hidden gem, quite literally hidden deep in the Surrey hills – it’s certainly the only major art gallery I have ever found at the end of a long walk down a country lane. How it rewards the walk! The beautiful ‘Arts and Crafts’ facade suddenly delighting you from behind the trees.
Showcasing the work of the great Victorian painter George Frederick Watts and his no less remarkable wife Mary a visit here is an experience that lasts long in the memory.
I was lucky enough to stay for a weekend here once, in a small cottage on the grounds, home, at that time, to the then assistant curator – a friend of mine. I will never forget those days of fun and friendship with her – the quintessentially English Teashop or the walk to the equally unique and treasure filled chapel.
Not visited by me now for many years…this ‘Artists’ Village’ is patiently waiting, I suspect, like an old friend, to open its doors to me again one day, as welcoming and unchanged as ever.
‘It’s a place’ as one visitor wrote ‘that leaves you rather lost for words’. They are right – so I end by saying – you just have to be there!
