I’d like to visit Stockbridge Massachusetts and see some of Norman Rockwell’s original paintings. Is there much in town, other than the museum, and is there a nice place to stay? Gillian Richardson, Walsall

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: The museum is the big draw, but the little town of Stockbridge is pretty too, with a famous Main Street that featured on Rockwell’s "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas". There’s been a heroic effort to preserve the scene as Rockwell painted it in 1960, and you might feel that the aspic is a bit thick, but it’s still a charming place.

The Norman Rockwell Museum (entry £9) itself is a five-minute drive west of Stockbridge, and here you can see the world’s largest collection of his work. He painted over 300 covers for the Saturday Evening Post, and it’s surprising how many are familiar. Yes, they are folksy and rose-tinted, even syrupy, but he said he painted life as it should be, rather than as it was.

My favourite illustration of his gentle humour is the wryly-composed "Triple Self Portrait", where an aging Rockwell is painting himself in the mirror. The canvas version of himself is turning out to be a portrait of him as a much younger man. For more Rockwell information, see www.normanrockwell.com.

For somewhere to stay, The Red Lion Inn (001 413 298 5545) is the mainstay of Main Street, and it features in the Christmas scene too. There are rooms in the Main Street building, plus in other cottages nearby – the old fire station a great option - en suite doubles are from £82, B&B.

A little out of town is the Stockbridge Country Inn (001 413 298 4015), has tastefully decorated and cosy doubles from £111, or there’s the Williamsville Inn (001 413 274 6118; doubles from about £132).

Driving around the bucolic Berkshires, even aimlessly, is a treat, but do try to visit Chesterwood (entry £8). It was the home of Daniel Chester French; the man sculptured the 20ft tall sitting statue of President Lincoln in Washington DC. His study even has full-gauge railway track for wheeling his works in progress out into the natural light on.

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