Lavenham in Suffolk

Lavenham weekend

25th to 26th January 2020 staying at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham and the best news is that Teddy came to.

We don’t live far from Lavenham, it’s about 40 miles away or about an hour drive but it is always nice to get away and we look forward to a break from the norm.

We left home at around 11:30 on Saturday morning, first stop was the Mill Hotel in Sudbury the hotel looks a little tired on the outside but is very nice on the inside and what’s even better, the food is great.

The weather was grey and overcast at about 5 degrees centigrade, so a little on the cool side.

Lunch at The Mill Hotel was very good I had a Steak Sandwich with chips and Barbara had a Cheese and Mustard Mayo sandwich with chips, both were very good, and the big chips were especially tasty.

After lunch we went for a walk with Teddy across the water meadows, I had my new zip up boots on and my new parka and I am pleased to report that both worked very well.

Because it has been very wet Teddy had his coat on, I know he doesn’t like it, but it does help keep him clean. We met a very nice dog called Mylo, he was a cross between a Bichon Frise and a Golden Retriever and looked very cute, trouble was Mylo was a bit frisky and was trying to hump Teddy all the time.

We walked across the water meadows for about 30-minutes.

Once back at the car we headed to Pets at Home to get that teddy a few treats before heading on to Lavenham.

We had to park in the overflow car park which was very busy and then we checked in and we were shown to our room, room number 53. It was a nice big room with a bath, plenty of space for the three of us.

It was then beer o’clock and time for a beer, so we headed to the bar. I had a Moretti and Barbara had a Raspberry Pinkster Gin.

Once we finished our drinks, we took a walk through the village where we visited the Marshbeck Interiors shop which is an old building that looks very grand and is full of little Knick knacks and furniture. They have some great things in there lots of wood as well as antiques, it’s well worth a visit if you are in Lavenham. We also had a look in the antique shop on the way back to the hotel, but they didn’t have anything that took our fancy.

So, we headed to the car park and I moved the car into a better car parking space. We then retired to her room for a rest, another beer and a quick nap before dinner.

Come 7.30 we were down in the Gallery Restaurant for dinner, we have dined here before and it is very nice with some background music playing, we were seated at a table for two and the menu was brought over.

Our waitress for the evening was a young lady called Skye.

For starters I went for Scallops with Celeriac, Lime, Honey and chive, which was lovely, a riot of different flavours. For main course I had Braised Beef Cheeks, Blue Cheese Pomme Puree, Onion and Baby Leeks, and for dessert Orange Souffle.

To go with our food, we went for a Chilean Pinot Noir called Conquistador. It was very nice and went well with our food.

After dinner we took Teddy out for a walk and then went to the bar for a night cap, I had a Balvenie Doublewood, a little expensive I know but I deserve a treat every now and then! I then had a Disaronno to take back to the room as a nightcap.

It’s worth mentioning the bar at the hotel, as it is also a shrine or at least a memorial to all the American airmen who served at RAF Lavenham during World War II and especially those that gave their lives during that conflict and after.

We had a bit of a rough night as Teddy did not settle very well, I think he could hear noises throughout the hotel and was very restless.

We were a little late getting up although we still made for breakfast at about 9:30. I had the Swan Full English Breakfast which was lovely, and Barbara had Mushrooms, Tomatoes on toast. I saved a little bit of bacon and sausage for Teddy as treat for later on.

After breakfast we finished packing and Barbara loaded the car and we checked out. Our bill came to £88 partly due to my expensive tasting whiskey the previous night.

But overall the stay and the dinner were free after the poor service at Christmas.

Once the car was loaded, we walked up the road to the church and had a look round, it was a big church very impressive and very imposing.

There was a farmer’s market taking place in the village hall and we headed there, I brought two Scotch Eggs and Chorizo Sausage and we brought some Darcy Spice Old English russet apples which are very tasty.  We also brought a bottle of apple juice made from the same apples.

Barbara got some Blackberry Gin for us and also some gin for Karen at work.

Then it was time to head back to the car and make our way home, the gin, that Barbara had tried earlier must have gone straight to her head as she was soon nodding off in the car as I drove along.

Overall all we had a lovely weekend; we both appreciated a change of scenery and it was nice to spend some time together and with Teddy despite him keeping us up all night.

On the way home we discussed having a day trip to Sudbury at some point in the future, similar to what we had done on Saturday, we will also have a look at Halstead which is probably worth a visit as well but I need to look at what walks there are around there. We also picked up a leaflet for St. George’s Distillery in Roudham, which looks like it might be worth a visit as well as they do whiskey tasting.