THE
SWAN HOTEL AT LAVENHAM
Romantic Stay in England’s Preserved Medieval Town
The
town of Lavenham, in the heart of the Suffolk countryside is known
as one
of the best
preserved Tudor villages in England, with 300 listed
buildings set in the heart of the Suffolk countryside between Sudbury
and Bury St Edmonds, 20 miles from Ispwich and the East Anglia coast.
The Swan Hotel on High Street in the center of the old village of Lavenham,
is evocative of a romantic history, noted for its beautifully restored
oak beams of 15th Century half-timber Tudor construction with large open
fireplaces, rich furnishings and its Old Bar with a colorful history,
making for
one of Britain’s finest historic hotels.
Lavenham
grew to prominence in medieval times as a result of the wool trade
after receiving its
market charter in 1257 (see Lavenham
Medieval Town). The Swan Hotel on High Street was first
built around 1400 and comprises three combined medieval houses. The
property didn’t become
an inn until the 1500s, but by 1667 was well established
and known as the Capital Free Public and Posting House. By the mid 1800s
The Swan was doing a flourishing business as a coach posting house with
stables for fifty horses and the terminus for the passenger coach from
London called “The Lavenham Machine”. The original part of
the inn was later combined with a former Wool Guild Hall
from 1464.
One
of The Swan Hotel’s more interesting periods was during the
Second World War. Flyers from the RAF and the U.S. 487th bomber group
of the 8th Air Force stationed at Lavenham Air Field would gather in
the
Old
Bar
between
bombing missions.
The
floor
of the
old bar is laid with bricks taken from the ballast of sailing ships after
the wool trade in Lavenham faded. Near the bar is the “Boot Record”
,
a collection of the signatures on the wall recording the names of the
airmen who successfully managed to guzzle three and a half pints of the
inn’s best ale from a glass boot without stopping. The boot still
holds a place of pride above the bar, but the record is safe. During
the war, locals would hire out bicycles for the tipsy airmen to return
to base. Today, a glass boot of beer would put you well over the legal
limit, so you might as well rent a bike for your stay. The bar once had a nude pin-up on the ceiling for the serviceman,
but long since prudishly painted over.
The
halls upstairs are decorated mementos of Lavenham’s
and England’s
early history (mostly replicas), including one of the oldest maps of
England from 1250, illustrated by a Benedictine monk
from St Albans (see St
Albans Roman Town), prints of the Lindisfarne
Gospels from 700 AD, a plan of the Battle of Waterloo and a copy of the
Magna Carta. The inner yard, which once accommodated coach horses, is now
the casual Garden Restaurant, which makes for a lovely quiet natural
respite from the holiday crowds who can fill the Lavenham streets on
weekends and summers. The 2 Rosettes awarded Gallery Restaurant offers
fine dining, serving the best of modern British cuisine, featuring fresh,
local seasonal ingredients.
Packages - Romantic Decadence
For an extra £85 you can treat a loved one to some pampering with their Luxury in Lavenham Package – a bottle of Champagne, a box of hand made chocolates, hand tied flowers, a Molton Browmn toiletry gift set and complimentary newspaper each morning. Stay on a Friday and Saturday and get a 50% discount on either Thursday or Sunday Night. Come on a Sunday and stay three nights for the price of two. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Swan Hotel Lavenham
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The Swan
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