To avoid the chaos of crossing London, I looked to the east of England, and found that Suffolk was a green, countryside county full of quaint medieval villages - sounded perfect.
We started our trip at Ickworth, a National Trust property created by an eccentric, wealthy Earl-Bishop featuring a huge central rotunda and sweeping curved galleries filled with marble columns and artwork - a most intriguing design.
Next stop was Bury St Edmund, which was named after the King (later Saint) Edmund who was buried here after being martyred by the Danes. The abbey founded in his honour was eventually pulled down (during the dissolution of the monasteries), but the area it once occupied is now a park and a beautiful garden. The scale of it is immense; the town's rather large cathedral (which is fascinating as it is in a gothic style, but the tower only went up in 2000 and the cloisters still arent finished) only fills one small corner of the Abbey's area.
Our final stop was Lavenham, where we were staying. Lavenham was once one of the 20 richest settlements in Medieval England, but appears frozen in time (except for the cars and tarmac, of course). The wool trade which sustained it dried up, and as a result it remains a town of half-timbered tudor buildings plus a beautiful (but perhaps over-sized for a town of 2000 people) church.
The Greyhound in Lavenham - a picture-perfect pub just around the corner from the B&B
In one of the (slightly less wonky) half-timbered buildings is the Priory B&B, which has five individually decorated rooms, all with four poster beds, exposed beam ceilings and the feel of an earlier era (but the comfort of the modern one!). We loved it...
The painted chamber, our room at the Priory
We'd had all sorts of plans of doing something else touristy on the Sunday, but it was sunny outside and we were so relaxed that we just sat in the park and read - it really is great to get away from it all...
Our final stop was Lavenham, where we were staying. Lavenham was once one of the 20 richest settlements in Medieval England, but appears frozen in time (except for the cars and tarmac, of course). The wool trade which sustained it dried up, and as a result it remains a town of half-timbered tudor buildings plus a beautiful (but perhaps over-sized for a town of 2000 people) church.
The Greyhound in Lavenham - a picture-perfect pub just around the corner from the B&BIn one of the (slightly less wonky) half-timbered buildings is the Priory B&B, which has five individually decorated rooms, all with four poster beds, exposed beam ceilings and the feel of an earlier era (but the comfort of the modern one!). We loved it...
The painted chamber, our room at the PrioryWe'd had all sorts of plans of doing something else touristy on the Sunday, but it was sunny outside and we were so relaxed that we just sat in the park and read - it really is great to get away from it all...
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