Weekend in Lavenham: Our 3-day Suffolk itinerary

A weekend in Lavenham

Lavenham is a gorgeous medieval village in the heart of Suffolk.  Famous for its colourful half-timbered houses, crooked buildings and centuries-old wool-trading history, it’s often described as one of England’s prettiest villages.  Intrigued to see if it would live up to the hype, we went to Lavenham for a long girls’ weekend in Suffolk.  It promised to be a good meeting point for us coming from Surrey and London, whilst also making a great base for exploring more of Suffolk.

Over three days, we explored the best things to do in Lavenham, took a day trip to historic Bury St Edmunds and walked through the Suffolk countryside from Long Melford back to Lavenham.  Plus, we got to enjoy spa time in the Swan Hotel and some amazing food.  It really was the best weekend.

So if you’re planning your own weekend in Lavenham, here’s exactly how we spent three days exploring this beautiful corner of Suffolk.  Read on for our 3-day Suffolk itinerary, which includes day trips to Bury St Edmunds and Long Melford.

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The easiest way to get to Lavenham is by car.  We drove from Surrey which took us about 2.5 hours via the M3 and M25.  The drive from North London was even quicker, making Lavenham an easy destination for a weekend break or even a day trip.

If you’re using public transport, the nearest train station is Sudbury, which is 7 miles away or Bury St Edmunds, which is 11 miles to the north.  You can then take a bus or taxi to Lavenham.

On arrival in Lavenham, we met in the heart of the village for lunch.  There are plenty of cute cafés and tearooms in Lavenham, but we picked Francesca’s, which was a great start to the weekend.

After lunch, we set off to explore the village. For such a small village, Lavenham packs a punch. With crooked medieval houses, historic buildings and independent shops, there’s plenty to see and you can do it all on foot.  Here are the best things to do in Lavenham, which you can all squeeze into one day!

First up was a guided walking tour of Lavenham, which was the perfect introduction to the village. You can book this with the National Trust.

Our guide, David, led us on a short route through Lavenham, stopping at some of the most interesting historic buildings along the way.  Many of Lavenham’s timber-framed buildings date back centuries and owe their existence to the wealth generated by the medieval wool and cloth trade.  Today Lavenham has more than 300 listed buildings.  There really are beautiful buildings on every street.

A guided tour is a great idea, as it was fascinating to learn more about the architecture, the village’s history and why some of the medieval buildings now have Georgian façades. (Apparently at the time Georgian trumped medieval!)

Our guided tour started outside Lavenham Guildhall, an impressive timber-framed building overlooking Market Place.

Originally built as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi, it Is now owned by the National Trust.  The building has a history dating nearly 500 years and houses a history museum telling the story of Lavenham.  It also has a nice café out the back.

Just beside the Guildhall is the distinctive ochre-yellow Little Hall, another of Lavenham’s eye-catching timber-framed buildings.

Today it’s a museum where you can discover more about the house and the people who lived there.

One of the most photographed houses in Lavenham is De Vere House, better known to visitors as “the Harry Potter House.”  This distinctive 15^th-century house appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the Potter family home in Godric’s Hollow, making it a favourite spot for Harry Potter fans.

Competing with the Harry Potter house for the title of most photographed building is the wonderfully wonky Crooked House.

Built in 1395, this 600-year-old house definitely lives up to its name.  According to its owners, it was originally part of a much larger house built for a wealthy wool merchant.  As its unseasoned timbers dried, the building gradually twisted into the crooked shape you see today.

The house is now home to the Crooked Men, who open their home for house tours and black-tie dinners.

Another building worth adding to your Lavenham itinerary is the impressive Church of St Peter and St Paul.  It’s surprisingly large for a village of this size and is considered one of the finest examples of late Gothic architecture in England.

Whilst you’re in Lavenham, allow some time to wander along the High Street and browse the shops.  There’s a lovely selection of small independent shops and boutiques, so of course we managed to squeeze in a little shopping into our girlie weekend.

After a busy afternoon exploring Lavenham, there could hardly be a better way than to finish the day with a couple of hours at the spa.

The Weaver’s House Spa is in the heart of Lavenham and offers treatments and spa facilities, including an outdoor vitality pool, steam room, sauna, and relaxation suites.

We were staying at Dairy Cottage, which is owned by the Swan Hotel, so our stay included two hours’ use of the spa each day.  This was absolute heaven and became one of the highlights of our Lavenham weekend.

In the evening, we headed to the Greyhound, a lively pub that had come highly recommended.  The menu offered an interesting selection of small plates, which was perfect as we could order several dishes to share.

There are several other places to eat in Lavenham, Memsaab for Indian food and The Swan for a more formal dining experience.

There’s also a wonderful choice of cafés for lunch options.

On day two of our weekend in Lavenham, we left the car behind and took a day trip to Bury St Edmunds, one of Suffolk’s most historic market towns.

It was my first visit to Bury, as it’s known locally and I was surprised at just how big and lively it was.  With medieval ruins, an impressive cathedral, a bustling market and plenty of shops and restaurants, there’s more than enough to fill a day.

Bury St Edmunds has a fascinating history.  Its name comes from Saint Edmund, King of the East Angles, whose shrine attracted pilgrims from all over the world.

We visited on a Saturday and the town was bustling.  Although we only had one day, we managed to pack in many of the main sights.

We took the bus to Bury St Edmunds, which made this an easy car-free day trip.  The bus left from Lavenham High Street and took us to the city centre in about 30 minutes.  Here’s our choice of the best things to do in Bury St Edmunds in one day.

Our first attraction was the Pillar of Salt on Angel Hill, just outside the Abbey Gate.

Built in 1935, it’s an unusual road sign and is thought to have been Britain’s first internally illuminated street sign.  It is now Grade II listed and one of only two listed road signs in the UK.

From here, you can also see the historic Angel Hotel, where Charles Dickens stayed several times before heading through the Abbey Gate into the Abbey Gardens.

The medieval Abbey Gate is the main gateway to the Abbey and its gardens.  It was built in the 14^th century and remains one of the most impressive surviving structures from the abbey complex.

This was once the site of one of the richest and most important Benedictine abbeys in the UK.  It became a significant place of pilgrimage after the remains of the martyred king St Edmund were moved here in about 903.

The abbey is in ruins now, but the rubble core remains and you can see from the 3-d map how enormous it would have been.

You can still see the monks’ cemetery, but the body of Saint Edmund was never found.

Beyond the Abbey Gate are the beautiful  Abbey Gardens, a lovely green space in the heart of Bury St Edmunds.

The landscaped gardens are free to visit and surround the ruins of the former Benedictine monastery.

Next door, St Edmundsbury Cathedral is a large cathedral.  It was recently enhanced with a new Gothic Revival tower funded through a Millennium project.  Admission is free though a donation is requested.

After visiting the cathedral, look out for the statue of St Edmund and the wolf sculpture nearby.  I also loved the quirky houses built into the three arches of the west front of the abbey.

Yes, we really did manage two guided walking tours in one weekend!

Our second was a walking tour of Bury St Edmunds, which was a fantastic way to delve into the town’s history and learn all about the fate of St Edmund.  The route took us mainly round the abbey and cathedral quarter before looping back into town.

We’d originally hoped to join one of the food tours, but unfortunately they weren’t running on the weekend of our visit.

As we visited Bury St Edmunds on a Saturday, the market was in full swing. We had a browse around the stalls and picked up some cheese for a cheese and wine evening back at the cottage.

After our second spa session, of course!

Before catching the bus back to Lavenham, we headed to the new part of town for a spot of shopping.  Bury St Edmunds has a good mix of familiar high street names and independent shops, so it’s easy to combine sightseeing and shopping on a day trip.

Known as the Foodie Capital of Suffolk, there’s certainly no shortage  of places to eat and drink in Bury St Edmunds.  We stopped for lunch at The One Bull, an old pub with a large dining area.

Two other pubs caught our eye.  The Nutshell, which claims to be Britain’s smallest pub and the local Wetherspoons, which occupies the top floor of the rather grand former Corn Exchange.

One of the best walks near Lavenham is the Lavenham to Long Melford Railway Walk, a 4.5 miles (7.2 km) route following much of the former Great Eastern Railway line.

We decided it would be the perfect way to round off our 3-day Lavenham itinerary.  Rather than walking both ways, we caught the bus to Long Melford, spent some time exploring the village and then walked the 4.5 miles back to Lavenham.

On arriving in Long Melford, we spent some time exploring the village itself.  Just like Lavenham, this pretty Suffolk village grew wealthy through the medieval wool trade.  It is famous for its exceptionally long High Street, which stretches for around 2.5 miles long, so we focused our visit on the end nearest Melford Hall.

One of the best things to do in Long Melford is visit Melford Hall, a stunning red-brick Tudor mansion owned by the National Trust.  It is surrounded by formal gardens and acres of parkland.  Within the grounds, you can also visit the 17^th-century Banqueting House.

As the house doesn’t open until 12, we just explored outside.

We also made a quick visit to Holy Trinity Church, often known as one of Suffolk’s great wool churches.  Even if you don’t go inside, it’s worth stopping to admire as you explore Long Melford.  Its impressive size is another reminder of just how wealthy this part of Suffolk was in the Middle Ages.

Long Melford has two impressive stately homes.  The other is Kentwell Hall, an impressive red Tudor house set in a large estate.  We didn’t have time to visit on this occasion, so we’ll save that for a future trip.

Following the route of a former railway line, this easy countryside walk passes through woodland, open fields, and some lovely Suffolk scenery.  It eventually brings you back into Lavenham close to St Peter and St Paul’s Church.

Once back in Lavenham we had lunch in the gardens of the Guildhall, a quick mooch around the shops and then reluctantly hit the road for home.

I would highly recommend the Swan Hotel in Lavenham, a beautiful 15^th century building in the heart of the village.  Located on the High Street, it offers historic character with luxury touches, including fine dining and the excellent Weavers’ House Spa.

We stayed in Dairy Cottage, a gorgeous three-bedroom cottage owned by the hotel.  It is ideal for families or groups and was just perfect for our weekend in Lavenham.  The cottage has a spacious lounge with a wood burner, a pretty outdoor terrace, and was only 2 minutes’ walk from the High Street.  Best of all, our stay included two hours’ complimentary access to the Weaver’s Spa each day.

One of the best things about accommodation in Lavenham is the chance to sleep in one of its historic timber-framed buildings.  Other options include The Great House Lavenham Hotel, which overlooks the market square and Weavers Cottage, an atmospheric medieval cottage close to the Guildhall.

If you’re visiting Lavenham by car, parking is straightforward.  There is a pay-and-display car park at the top of the High Street next to the pub, as well as additional on-street parking in some areas.

We found parking easy during our visit, particularly on Sunday.  If you are staying at the Swan, guests can also use the hotel’s private car park behind the hotel.  Our stay at the Dairy Cottage included two parking spaces.

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