Cold Walks, Warm Galleries: Seven UK Towns for a Winter Art Break

January and February are, quietly, the best months for looking at art in Britain — as long as you are not in London. City blockbusters hit peak crush the moment the Christmas decorations come down, and you end up shuffling past a masterpiece at the speed of a supermarket queue.

Head somewhere smaller instead. Off-season towns empty out, galleries keep sensible hours, and the light is either dreadful in an interesting way or astonishing in a way you only get at four in the afternoon. Best of all, a single night's bed and breakfast turns a rushed handful of rooms into a proper short break: an evening walk, a fire, a second morning with nowhere else to be.

Seven towns, seven compact hops. Check winter opening before you set off — many small galleries close on Mondays and Tuesdays — and always book your bed direct.

Kendal, Cumbria

The galleries: Abbot Hall, reopened after its refurbishment, with Lakeland views and a collection that takes watercolours seriously; the Brewery Arts Centre, which runs two galleries alongside a cinema and gigs; Cross Lane Projects for contemporary work with a bit of bite.

The stay: a stone townhouse a few minutes off the high street, ideally with a room at the back and a proper bath.

Stay the night for: the yards. Kendal's narrow medieval snickets behind the main street are at their best after dark, when the shops are shut and the whole town feels like a set. If you come in mid-November instead, the Mountain Festival fills every room for miles — book months ahead.

Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

The galleries: Artsmill, in a converted mill, showing regional makers and touring shows; Northlight Art Studios, which opens its doors on selected weekends; and the town's galleries along Market Street for browsing when it rains, which it will.

The stay: a canal-side terrace guesthouse where the kettle is never far away.

Stay the night for: the Picture House, a 1921 cinema run by a community trust and one of the last of its kind still showing films in a town this size. Follow it with the walk to Hardcastle Crags the next morning, when the woods are empty and the water is loud.

St Ives, Cornwall

The galleries: Tate St Ives, all curves and Atlantic light; the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, where you should book a slot and take your time; Penlee House in Penzance for the Newlyn School, a short train ride away.

The stay: a granite townhouse on the back streets above the harbour, well away from the summer crowds that make the same lanes unbearable in August.

Stay the night for: the emptiness. Out of season you can stand in front of the Tate's windows with nobody between you and Porthmeor, and the sculpture garden in drizzle is a different, better thing than in sun. Two nights minimum if you want to reach Newlyn as well.

Peebles, Scottish Borders

The galleries: the Tweeddale Museum and Gallery inside the Chambers Institution, small but well chosen; the Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre, which programmes exhibitions alongside its stage.

The stay: a Borders guesthouse with a fire in the hall and drying space for coats.

Stay the night for: the Great Polish Map of Scotland at Barony Castle near Eddleston, a huge outdoor relief model in a hotel garden. It is free, slightly surreal and much better in low winter sun than in summer glare — and it is a twenty-minute drive that no day-tripper from Edinburgh ever makes.

Folkestone, Kent

The galleries: the Quarterhouse for performance and contemporary programming; the Folkestone Artworks, dozens of permanent pieces threaded through streets, churchyards and the harbour arm rather than corralled into a building.

The stay: a Georgian townhouse near the Leas, where the sea fret rolls in without warning.

Stay the night for: the hunt. The Artworks reward a slow, aimless circuit of the town, and in February you will have most of them to yourself. Start on the Leas at dusk, end at the harbour, eat something fried.

Penzance, Cornwall

The galleries: Newlyn Art Gallery and its sister space The Exchange, which between them cover a century of making in the far west; Penlee House for the Newlyn School in the setting it was painted for.

The stay: a townhouse on the terrace or one of the chapel conversions on the edge of town — ask about parking, which is the town's one genuine trial.

Stay the night for: Montol, the winter solstice festival on 21 December, when guisers, lanterns and fiddles take over the streets. It is one of the few genuinely old midwinter celebrations left in England, and it is not something you can catch on the last train back.

Machynlleth, Powys

The galleries: MOMA Machynlleth, housed in the Tabernacle with its painted chapel, plus a scattering of studios in the Dyfi valley that open by arrangement.

The stay: a townhouse B&B with a drying room, which in this valley is not a luxury.

Stay the night for: Senedd-dy on Maengwyn Street, the small building traditionally linked to Owain Glyndŵr's parliament. It is a modest thing to look at and a strange, affecting one to sit with — and it makes far more sense after a night in the town than after a hurried hour.

How to do this well

Two nights beats one almost every time: galleries shut early, light goes at four, and the point of these towns is the bit between the exhibitions. Travel by train where you can — all seven are reachable, though Peebles and Machynlleth need a little planning. Check opening days directly rather than trusting an old listing, ask your host what is actually open that week, and book the room straight from the guesthouse. Small houses in January live or die on direct bookings, and the welcome you get is usually the better for it.

Bring a coat you do not mind getting wet. The art is indoors; the good bits in between are not.