A journey into the past

Yesterday we went 40 miles out of London into the Essex countryside to the small town of Saffron Walden. We went mainly because l wanted to see an exhibition of the works of a 30s/40s artist Eric Ravellious but when we got there around 12 we discovered the gallery didn't open until 2 o'clock. We had 2 hours to wander around this pretty, historic little town packed full of old cottages, an amazing church and the remains of a castle.
The emblem on the front of nearest cottage holds the date of 1630 and has a shell on it which was a symbol used by pilgrims. I have included the extra as it has such a good examples of the art of pargetting which is found on a lot of old buildings in Essex and Suffolk.