My wife and I need to drive down from Norwich back to London next week and are thinking about breaking the journey up with a one night stay in a pretty village pub in Suffolk or maybe Essex borders. We need some nice accommodation and just as important some good food. Any thoughts or ideas on where we should stay? Many thanks!
My favourite Suffolk stay is The Westleton Crown (/www.westletoncrown.co.uk), but itâs hardly half way from Norwich to London.
We use it for Minsmere RSPB and surrounding countryside, itâs cosy pub, great food and just laid back relaxing atmosphere ⌠oooh and Adnams, what else, itâs Suffolk.
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I recommend @Simon-in-Suffolk garden , pickles and tea. No need to search exotic places.
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plus 1 for W Crown.
A few suggestions, not withstanding what is one persons niceâŚgood foodâŚwonât appeal to someone else!
Ask many a good publican in uk serving food and a high percentage of orders will be for Burgers and chips or something else + chips, so it isnât easy to recommend.
In no particular order, Beehive at Horinger has had a reputation for good food, in a nice location and with accomodation, near historic Bury St. Edmunds
Mistly Thorn just outside Mannigtree - good food and accomo; nice area, Stour estuary.
Close by, Lavenham - Constable country, several pubs to choose from, perhaps stay at the Swan and take a walk to the hostelry of your choice for nosh. If you have never walked around the area of Dedham Vale and Flatford, then defintely worth an overnight and a few hours. It is beyond your âpretty villageâ, the area is very picturesque, worth a visit definitely. If that all doesnât appealâŚ!
Safe drive!
edit - Aldburgh / Southwold by the sea is another option - otherwise look at website âstay in a pubâ.
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Between Norwich and London is Cambridge in Cambridgeshire of course.
Midsummer House is a great choice. Along with a bed and breakfast at the University arms.
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If you are looking for nice places around the Suffolk / Essex borders you are spoilt for choice⌠you have the Dedham Vale (Constable country) , and then places like beautiful villages of Kersey and Lavenham around Hadleigh further west.
Kersey
Places to stay around Lavenham
The East Suffolk Coast is more out of the way, but is somewhat disrupted at the moment (and for the next 10 to 15 years) due to the Sizewell C Nuclear power station construction preperation. (Aldeburgh, Southwold, Saxmundham etc) personally I think itâs a travesty the damage, destruction and wholesale land clearing that has taken place so far .. it looks like those images of Amazon rain forest clearing or the aftermath of the 1987 hurricane, but then governments like to build massive nuclear power stations well away from major populations for obvious reasonsâŚ.
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I have to agree with Simon, the Sizewell C development is having a significant impact on the surrounding rural area, and is planned to affect the area for numbers of years to come. And even when Sizewell is finished the land will continue to be used for the decommissioning of Sizewell B, and if itâs life does get extended, the decommissioning could go on until 2055.
That said, what I saw earlier this year had not spread as far north as Westleton or further south than Aldeburgh. But the concentration and land takeovers in between and inland are not pleasant.
Mike if only .. being a local.. the impacts as far south as Wickham Market and Ipswich, and as far north as Lowestoft⌠I remember Sizewell B being built.. yes after a decade or so normality returned.. but some impacts remained⌠and each generation of Sizewell powerstation leaves a radioactive tomb behind that remains for centuriesâŚ.. and if that is not enough we have the major north sea wind farms landing into East Suffolk, so there is a more industrialisation and destruction with substations and converters and solar farms⌠I am afraid east Suffolk has become a UK power distribution box⌠and itâs internationally recognised nature reserves, some local businesses / farms / tourist trade and most of the local people that have to suffer and accept it for the good of the rest of the UK. When you have sparsely populated parts of the UK they become magnets for this sort of thing.. there is simply not enough people to object and insist on proportionality.
I hear ya Simon, what shocked me was the acreage of farmland in the area being turned into offsite/handling/storage.
Miles of hedgerows replaced by more miles of Heras fencing and quadruple plus that with more fencing in the fields theyâve taken over.
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Indeed and Mrs SinS has been involved with the distribution of Iodine tablets to the local population should a radiation leak occur⌠of course that sort of thing is not really advertised as it is a little inconvenientâŚ
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Thanks to you all for your suggestions. I will pass some ideas on to my wife, who makes all the important decisions. We will pack iodine tablets as Simon suggests 
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Opposite the Fox, a recommended pub in Newbourne, there is a lovely cottage you can rent. One of best pubs in Britain in my opinion is the Low House in Laxfield.
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That looks awful
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But we all need power. Whatâs the alternative, burning imported coal? These massive building projects always seem to take more land than they need, which is hopefully restored afterwards. We go through the M25/A3 J10 quite often and the size of the site is incredible, including taking part of the RHS Wisley garden. However itâs now being landscaped and in a few years the disruption will be forgotten.
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How about Bury St Edmunds, The Angel? Not in the country as such (although Bury is a nice market town) but it is a lovely interesting hotel with good food and you also get a great musical connection:
My parents lived in Dedham (Essex/Suffolk border) for 20 years. We occasionally went to Milsoms which is high end dining and very smart. Not cheap though.
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Appreciating all the suggestions everyone!
The Angel hotel overlooking the Abbey and gardens us very nice, stayed there last year, and valet parking included as a nice touch.
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