The best £15 I have ever spent is a York art gallery and museum card. For the price of three pints of lager I can spend a year looking at a few pictures now and then, instead of frying my senses in trying to absorb everything in one hit.

At present there is a superb exhibition of seascapes with my favourite being ‘On the Yorkshire Coast.’ (1873) by Scarborough artist Edward Henry Holder. Here the focus is on the radiantly lit cliff face, so bright that you can almost feel the texture of warm stone against your fingertips, while the arcing sea birds add to the sensations of movement and sound.

In the main gallery there is a heartwarming work by William Etty ‘Preparing for a Fancy Dress’ (1833).

It shows a timeless scene of two young women getting ready for a big night out, the excitement palpable and already causing them to blush in anticipation. So much to see and appreciate, but the card gives you a chance to make this possible.

Did I mention the serenely beautiful Gwen John painting ‘Young Woman in a Red Shawl’ (1920) and the Lucie Rie ceramics exhibition? Or the other two museums that the card gives access to!?

Brian McCusker,

Hartoft Street, York