Laura Wall Art and Illustration

Laura Wall's gallery in Dawlish is a refreshingly modest affair - no grand statements, just a working artist's space where you can actually see illustration and art happening. The work on display ranges from detailed botanical pieces to looser, more experimental illustration, and there's something honest about watching an artist develop ideas rather than seeing only the polished final cuts.

This is absolutely a gallery for people who care about the craft of drawing and illustration. If you're the type who gets excited about pen technique and composition, you'll linger for a solid hour or more. Families with restless toddlers might find thirty minutes is their limit, but older kids interested in art will pick up far more from a space like this than they would from a vast, impersonal museum.

It's free to pop in - at least it should be, though it's worth ringing ahead to check hours and whether anything's changed. Dawlish itself is a pleasant enough seaside town without being particularly remarkable, but if you're staying at one of the nearby holiday parks like Lady's Mile or Leadstone Camping, it's a genuine reason to wander into town rather than just heading for the seafront.

The real value is in the intimacy of it. You're not paying much, you're getting direct access to what someone actually does for a living, and the work is well-executed without any pretension. Worth twenty minutes of your time if you're in the area, essential if illustration is your thing.