A Limited edition print of the Holy Trinity church in Cookham, the home of the artist Sir Stanley Spencer

Over A very hot few days I decided to take a trip out to Berkshire to the village of Cookham on the river Thames.  

This scene is the village church of the Holy Trinity. This featured many times in Stanley Spencer’s paintings. His greatest being ‘Resurection at Cookham’, a vast painting at H 274.3 x W 548.6 cm. And as the name suggests the resurrection in the churchyard where all the dead a reborn from their coffins and greet each other after their long sleep. If true one of those risen will be Stanly himself as he was laid to rest in the churchyard.

The view of the church was beneath a vast, cool and shady tree. It was a great place to paint for a morning before the heat got to me.

Cookham is celebrated as the lifelong home and muse of one of my most favourite painter’s Sir Stanley Spencer. He spent most of his life painting around Cookham and the surrounding villages and if you’re a fan like me you see his paintings all over the place.

In the centre of Cookham, just a short walk from his house you will find the The Stanley Spencer Gallery which showcases over 100 of his works. It is a real treat to see, and wonderfully airconditioned escape from the 34-degree heat outside.

Interestingly, Cookham also inspired Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows during his time at Cookham Dean, with nearby Quarry Wood thought to be the original “Wild Wood”