IIF Gallery

The IIF Gallery sits in Chingford, east of Essex, and it's a proper working artist space rather than your typical white-cube gallery experience. You're looking at contemporary art in what feels like a real studio environment - the kind of place where you might bump into someone actually making work rather than just hanging around in an empty room.

It's ideal for art types who want something beyond the mainstream circuit. If you're into seeing emerging or mid-career artists doing interesting things, this is worth a visit. Less useful if you're after blockbuster names or the kind of gallery that takes itself too seriously. The whole experience tends to be quite intimate - no crowds, no velvet ropes.

Unfortunately, details on opening hours and admission aren't immediately clear from the gallery's information, so you'll need to check ahead before making the trip. Build it into a wider Chingford wander - it's a pleasant enough area to explore, and if you're staying at Lee Valley Campsite over in Sewardstone (about 5.5 miles away), you're not far from the gallery at all. The campsite itself is reasonable rather than spectacular, but it gives you decent access to the Lee Valley area for a park-based break.

Allow an hour or so, depending on what's on and how the artist explains their work if they're about. Definitely call ahead - galleries like this sometimes have peculiar hours.