On a scorching hot day in September, Mum, Dad and I had a coach trip down to Suffolk and then into Essex. The plan was that, if I were to drive Mum and Dad to Saffron Walden (see previous post), then they would treat me to a coach trip to Beth Chatto gardens. So far so good ... The coach trip also included a stop in Lavenham and, quite honestly, I was dismayed that we would have three hours there. THREE HOURS! That was eating into precious time that we needed for the gardens. Also, what on earth could you do in a village in three hours? Well, quite a lot as it turns out - according to our guide leaflet, there are over three hundred ancient buildings in Lavenham, many of them listed as being of architectural and historic interest.
I love the colour of this building and especially with the odd bit of green glass dotted about also. Lavenham is famous as a Suffolk wool town, and earned its wealth from the wool cloth industry. Little Hall (above) was built by wool merchants and parts of it date back to the 14th century.
Even the estate agents is an antique!
This is not camera trickery, these houses really WERE that wonky!
We found an antiques and collectables place and I left Mum and Dad outside to go and have a look, but it was magical in there and I went back out to beckon them in. We spent ages wandering around, looking at their wares which had us in stitches.
Who wouldn't want a sofa made out of the back of a car, for instance?!
This is my particular favourite - a wine bar made out of a Massey Ferguson tractor, and some cycling stools!
The Old Wool Hall.
A lot of the houses had garage doors built into them which made us wonder whether they had originally been barns for storage?
Look at this upper window!
It was an incredibly hot day, so I left Mum and Dad in a shelter with some ice cream and ran up to look at the church. (We didn't have much time left as our three hours had soon flown by, so I even had to run back to get the coach as I was late!)
What a fabulous place and somewhere that definitely needs more exploring. Part two to follow of Beth Chatto's Gardens. What an action packed day!
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