Saffron Walden , Essex
'In the hands of an expert you can see how good these patterns can really look,' says Alec Clifton-Taylor disarmingly in front of a wall where he's been trying his hand at pargeting. This is a decorative craft achieved by pressing patterned moulds into wet plaster. It's the Saffron Walden speciality, seen on many of the town's timber-framed houses and particularly on the Sun Inn. In this friendly little town on the border of East Anglia, brick, tile and timber-frame predominate. Apart from the flint of the church, stone only makes its appearance at the nearby mansion of Audley
End, completed in 1621. 'For the grandee who built this prestigious house, it just had to be limestone and nothing else. A colossal piece of extravagance.'
Today Saffron Walden is a town with too many pollarded trees and too much traffic, most of which, says Clifton-Taylor, should be 'firmly re-routed.'
Film editor MICHAEL GOLDSMITH
Executive producer BRUCE NORMAN
... instruction, entertainment, a sheer joy (THE TIMES) .... infectious enthusiasm (STANDARD)
Books: Six English Towns £7.25; Six More English Towns £10.95; Another Six English Towns £12.95 from booksellers
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