St Fagans, the open-air museum inspired by Skansen, is a marvellous introduction to Welsh life as told by the forty-plus historical, but often very ordinary and mostly rural buildings which have been moved to site over the years. Of interest to readers who enjoy picturing characters' fictional domestic settings are the six houses from the Rhyd-y-car Terrace built in 1795 by the owner of a Merthyr Tydfil ironworks for his workers. They were moved to St Fagans in the early 1980s and the interiors are furnished to reflect different periods of their history from 1805 to 1985. Next to them is a communal bread oven identical to the three which served the terraced houses.  

The Post is in Wales this week with a copy of One Afternoon by Siân James who was born in Coed-y-bryn, Ceredigion (home to this 1886 chapel). According to her obituary, although she lived much of her adult life in England, she was deeply committed to Wales and its history, having been "raised in a belief that Wales was a country with a distinct identity and a fierce independence of thought and spirit". It is this distinct identity that is the theme of this week's Post.

Although replica food can often appear to be a light-hearted, everyday subject for artists, a huge amount of skill and accuracy is required to make it work in any medium. The specialist Fake Food Workshop is run by artist and sculptor Kerry Samantha Boyes who says that every piece is handmade and has an "unparalleled level of authenticity achieved through obsessive attention to detail". She has many clients including the National Trust, and her raspberry ripple ice-creams appeared in Barbie (2023). 

Kate Jenkins is a textile artist known for her 'shops', 'cafes', and installations featuring hand-made stitched, knitted, crocheted, and sequinned foods and products. She says she is inspired to use food in her works because the possibilities are endless, and she aims to produce something which is both beautiful and amusing. In 2015 she created 'Kate's Plaice', an entire fish counter (detail above).

Donuts, Coffee Cups and Comics (1962, Wolverhampton Art Gallery) is by Jann Haworth (b1942), a leading figure of British Pop Art culture in the 1960s, a pioneer of soft sculpture, and co-creator of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album cover (1967). The National Galleries of Scotland  writes that for Jann Haworth, "the choice of cloth was an act of rebellion that reclaimed the value of traditional female crafts".

Tirzah Ravilious, as she signed herself here, was fascinated by miniature houses, buildings and shops, and in the 1940s she  created a number of three-dimensional models using a mix of print, collage, wood and pyruma in shallow box frames. This is Daren, Baker's Shop 1945-1946 (private collection) in which she has carefully recreated different loaves; 'Daren Bread' was a popular brand of brown bread and a household name in the early C20. The piece will be in the Dulwich exhibition. 

The Post this week is inspired by the new exhibition at Japan House in London which has just opened and runs until 16th February 2025. 'Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan's food replica culture' has received a great deal of publicity and reviews all of which testify to an enduring fascination with fake food 'in astonishing displays of impossibly realistic replica dishes', which in Japan have been turned into a 'dazzling art form'.