No.61 61 Walcot Street, Bath BA1 5BN
01225 463144. www.bathsbest.com
Tuesday to Saturday
10.30 to 5.30 or by appointment.
No.61 is at the centre of one of the city’s clusters
of specialist independent retailers. Arranged over two floors in a spacious converted foundry workshop it is a neither shop nor gallery but rather a continually changing collection, assembled
by the owner David Moul. The open ground floor exudes the warmth of carefully chosen pieces of 18th and 19th century furniture, polished wood and rich fabrics, interspersed with period and contemporary decorative items, lighting, sculpture and painting as well as smaller objects for the discerning gift purchaser.
The first floor has display cabinets with hand blown glass by Will Shakespeare in vivid boiled sweet colours and is the viewing space for featured artists. Current painting includes powerful Welsh landscapes by Mark Morris and Ann Whalley contrasted by bold impasto floral paintings by Jane Vaux. Sculpture includes elegant glass figures by Steve Yates, the magnificent bronzes by Hamish Mackie and birds crafted in mesh and porcelain by Matt Cummings plus whimsical pottery animals by Keza Rudge. No.61 is must visit for both decorators and collectors.
