Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey

If you speak to anyone who has visited the recently renovated Watts Gallery you will hear the same words: it is a charming place, quintessentially English, set in beautiful countryside, with a fabulous tea-room. A visit makes for a gracious afternoon out.

The gallery is, however, only part of the story. A stroll along the lane to the Mary Watts cemetery chapel reveals a stunning piece of architecture steeped in the Wattses’ philanthropic view that art should be for all.

The gallery houses work of George Frederic Watts (1817-1904), a Victorian painter and sculptor whose fame at the time of his death waned in modern times. He painted portraits of the great and the good of his time (notably Tennyson and Leighton), and moralised about the state of values in Victorian society in realist and symbolist style. His most iconic work is Hope (1886) – a blindfolded woman on top of a globe, plucking at the last remaining string on a lyre, her head bent in despair towards the tiny sound it makes: it is said that both Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela took inspiration from the work.

The chapel was designed by Mary Watts – George’s younger wife who outlived him by more than thirty years – and was built under her supervision with the involvement of the whole community. Go inside the chapel to see the extraordinary and intricate art nouveau decorations, but do not miss the exterior, rich in mythological symbolism.

Mary Watts was an accomplished artist of the arts and crafts movement in her own right but saw to it that her late husband’s work lived on in the gallery that he had commissioned the year before his death. Time took its toll on the gallery buildings but after a major award-winning renovation they re-opened to the public in 2011.

The gallery, like the chapel, is small and perfectly formed. It is an easy insight into G F Watts’ work, with information to hand via both the gallery notes and the volunteers that staff the rooms. The permanent collection is normally complemented by an exhibition in the new wing.

Arrive by car (signposted off the A3 south of Guildford, in Compton), bus (one an hour from Guildford station), or on foot via the North Downs Way (loop walk directions on the Watts Gallery website). Do not miss the tea-room. Children will enjoy the grounds, and the potential for them becoming bored is limited as the gallery is small; they will however surely enjoy the chapel. (Note the walk up from the road to the chapel is steep.)