Crooked Houses of Lavenham

On Saturday, we visited the nearby town of  Lavenham. It's an old wool town with half-timbered houses that over time have moved and are now crooked.

 

You may remember the nursery rhyme:

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

 

Some say this rhyme is about this town and we were lucky enough to see the crooked street, and house.

 

 

I love seeing red phone booths.

 

The house directly behind that older British couple, has the entire second floor leaning forward and slightly to the right.

We saw so many beautiful gardens these roses smelled so good.

 

This house was used in the Harry Potter film, it's Harry's parents home.  It's actually called De Vere House and was built in the 14th century and then extended in the 15th, then partially demolished in the early 1920's and rebuilt.

 

Here's a picture of the house in movie Deathly Hallows

 

We were lucky enough to go inside, a family friend was selling her art that day, so we stopped in and bought a couple of her postcards.

This was the narrow entry,  I was surprised that there were wood beams everywhere.

Even though the pictures were hung straight, they looked odd because the walls were crooked. It started to rain when we walked in and they were nice enough to let us hang out, until the rain to stopped. The artist explained she was from one of  the smallest villages in England, and grew up in a 400 year old house, which is why old houses seem normal to her. I guess being American, she understood why we were in awe of this house.

Check out the beautiful door and wood carvings.

 

 

If you've ever wanted to experience a real medieval home, you can contact them here and spend the night.

 

This is Guildhall, it's in the middle of market square. Some of the square and this building were also used in the Harry Potter films.

 

 

I love the salmon color of this home. Can you imagine growing up here?

A lady was having a garden sale instead of a yard sale, as I would call it. And she had all this cute bunting, leading you into her back garden. I didn't want to seem like a freak talking pictures of her flowers, so I didn't. Micky had to drag me out of there because I was asking her all about them and I kept saying "your garden is just so beautiful."

I wanted to take all these flowers home but the car was just too far away.

 At least, that's what I told myself.  

This is the main road into the town, and just seeing all these crooked little homes would make anyone want to stop and visit for a while.

 

Well we had a great day, in Lavenham. If you are ever in Suffolk, I would recommend coming for the day, have some tea or just talk to the people, especially at the tourist information office, they were so nice and welcoming here.

Tea Time

Ive been having tea for years; it all started with all my stuffed animals and my dog Cleo. I can't think of any little girl who didn't have a tea set and sat amongst stuffed animals and pretended to have tea. My daughter had about 3 tea sets and I melt to pieces when I see a cute tea pot.
But I never thought that as a grown up I'd be having a proper tea in England.

 A few ladies and I went out for tea, at a tea house called Peacocks And I could not resist the hot chocolate, they really know how to serve it up. We had scones, sandwiches, jellies, and just about anything you can imagine. I must come back with my daughter just the two of us, I can't let her go back to the states without trying out some English tea.

These dishes are so cute.
The hot chocolate had a small chocolate on top in the shape of a teapot.

 

The restaurant's theme is so cute and quaint, it's like you're  in someone's home and sitting in there kitchen.

 

 

This was a ham and cheese sandwich and it had the best cheese I've ever eaten.
If you ever get a chance to travel to England find a tea house and cross it off your bucket list; even if it wasn't on your list. It's a must do!

Greene King Tour

At the beginning of November we went on a tour of Greene King Brewery in Bury St Edmunds. Oddly enough we went with our church group, I really love these guys.

Funny moment here I had my vest inside out; that's why I wasn't glowing.

This brewery has been around since the 1800's and is one of the largest in the UK. They own hotels, and tons of pubs. It's a really old building in Bury St Edmunds and has been at the same location for years. It was built near one of the founders home.

We got to go up to the roof top which gave us a great view of the village.

I really love Bury, it's where we go when we want to watch 

a movie, shop, or just stroll through the streets. There's also lots of place you can eat and people watch. And the Abbey Gardens are so nice it's always a nice place to just relax sit on a bench let the kids play and so on. 

Oh, what I give to have one of these, I just love old things.

After the tour, they take you across the street to a pub and let you sample all the beer, as much as you want. This was our sexy tour guide and bartender. He was a hoot! and gave us a great tour.

My friend Carly had to get it on the action pouring since she doesn't drink and was our DD.

Man we all look pretty desperate to try it out.

Good time and great memory we made.

After the tour we walked just a couple of streets down to one of the couple's home for some chili. I wish I had pictures of that. They had a spread of cheeses and crackers, ceviche with chips, three different kinds of chili, wine, and dessert. 

On this night the Abbey was having fireworks in honor of Guy Fawkes. I thought they only celebrated it on November 5th but they actually do fireworks a few days early in some towns all the way until November 5th. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament but was caught and every year in England they celebrate with fireworks. 

We didn't stick around for the fireworks it was getting late and when you have kids you have to get home at a decent hour.   

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The Abbey looked so pretty at night. I can't believe how long the line was to get in and see the fireworks. I think the tickets were about 5 pounds, next year I have to go and see what all the fuss is about.

A House.....A Home

We finally found a house to rent, there was not a big selection when we were looking. We felt a lot of pressure to find a home quickly.  We managed to find a cute home in a nice neighborhood. I really wanted the charming English home with wooden beams but those homes have bad energy ratings. I found out that in England all the homes are energy rated and unless I want to freeze to death in the winter we had to find one with newer windows and appliances. Not to mention that utilities are very expensive in this country. 

The downside to this home is that all the fixtures and everything in the home is straight out of an Ikea catalog, not old and charming. Oh well! I guess I'll have to buy my own charming antiques to fill it. My neighbors have been very nice and we love the area. Most importantly, we are happy, just waiting on our belongings to arrive  and with a little organization we'll be all set. 

Isn't it cute?

This is a CLOSET... True story

At least the kitchen is nice