DO you have a rush hour in Herefordshire?" Grayson Perry asked as he prepared for the three-hour journey back to the smoke on his gleaming Harley-Davidson.

The Turner Prize winner gave a frank, funny and informative talk to a packed lecture theatre at Herefordshire College of Art & Design, which involved advice on drugs ("They're best avoided"); crits ("Just explain how you felt when you made it - that can never be wrong!"); and creative angst ("My imagination is always better than what comes out the kiln").

Having entertained a group that ranged in age from 16 to 60, he fielded numerous questions, based mainly on his work.

Turning up a few hours in advance of his afternoon appointment, the artist dived straight into town to check out the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library. It was the map that impressed him most.

Having come out himself during his time at art college, the world-renowned transvestite ceramicist had plenty of praise for establishments that encourage creativity, and "living your beliefs".

Not an early fan of pottery - "I thought is was all wind chimes and salt pigs" - it took being on the dole and squatting to push him to discover the medium.

"I was hugely influenced by my wife," he said.

His big break came when an art dealer came into his squat and just offered him an exhibition.

"Innovation is highly overrated - everything's been done before", "creativity is mistakes", he said.

It was the 100,000 visitors who saw his Turner Prize exhibition work, and studied it, that was important to him.

Frequently using the surface of his pots to explore challenging, witty and thought-provoking themes - war, road fatalities, child abuse - the artist talked openly about his alter-ego Claire, early naturalist performances at college and the PR machine that surrounds contemporary art.

Keen on creating a medium where the penis is commonplace, genitalia is as likely to feature on the intricately worked surfaces of his work as the embroidered dress he is wearing.

"Wouldn't it be great if a penis was as familiar an image as a flower?" he said.

And although not wearing a dress, Grayson Perry left Herefordshire having shed a little bit of Turner Prize glamour.