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 Suffolk and Essex Hotels
Interrupting the low-lying countryside, Suffolk's lovely villages are full of warmth and character with huge churches, mellow halls and large greens, bordered by half-timbered houses and thatched cottages. Two of our hotels are in two of the prettiest: the aptly named Long Melford and Lavenham, a picture-perfect blend of medieval and Tudor architecture. Others punctuate Suffolk's unspoilt coastline in the charming seaside towns of Southwold and Orford, near Aldeburgh where Benjamin Britten's classical music festival is staged. Further south, on the border with Essex, is the Vale of Dedham, Constable country, which epitomises the ideal English landscape. As in Norfolk, there has been a recent flowering of hotels in these two counties; many breathing new life into old buildings. The hotels are listed by price category, and their order bears no reflection on our preference.
 Reviews by Fiona Duncan |
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| Luxury: Fine traditional hotel at the heart of Southwold |
| Location: Southwold High Street |
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| On Sunday mornings, the welcoming drawing room is full of newspapers, coffee and chat, and the sun, when it shines, pours in from the market square. Most of the inviting bedrooms look on to the square (the largest) or out to sea, though there are some garden rooms grouped around a former bowling green. It is owned, with the nearby Crown, by Adnams Brewery, and well run by professional, helpful staff. |
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| Mid Price: Village inn with extensive dining and imaginative bedrooms |
| Location: Long Melford, on a corner of the Green |
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| Six years ago hotelier Craig Jarvis bought this 17th-century inn with a colourful history and transformed it into a hotel full of quirky character. Downstairs, with its comfortable bar, informal bistro and elegant dining room, there’s no hint of the extravagant bedrooms upstairs: some exotically flamboyant, others coolly romantic. Sink into one of the bar’s squashy sofas for a drink before a first-rate dinner. |
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| Mid Price: Contemporary hotel overlooking Ipswich Harbour |
| Location: Ipswich harbour, on the waterfront |
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| The clue’s in the name: the building was originally a salt warehouse, converted into a luxurious four-star hotel in 2003. The stunning interior, with its exposed brickwork and industrial pillars, remains true to its origins, although the style is chic and contemporary, and eye-catching modern art fills the rooms. The menu in the buzzy restaurant has a modern Mediterranean flavour, and in summer you can have romantic waterfront dinners al fresco. |
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| Mid Price: Family-run boutique b&b in a historic building |
| Location: On the High Street, about 300 yards from the sea |
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| A fine and very old (1455) house, part Jacobean, part Victorian, which acted as headquarters during the Anglo-Dutch Wars has been given a classy makeover, with three bedrooms that are spacious and full of period detail but also slick, contemporary and well-equipped. The Duke of York room has an exceptional pargetted ceiling dating from 1660, while the Earl of Sandwich room has a slipper bath in front of an open fire. Dinner, excellent and locally sourced, is served. |
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| Inexpensive: Romantic B&B in a historic old house |
| Location: in the centre of Lavenham |
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| An impossibly romantic, converted 13th-century priory, run by Tim and Gill Pitt with great flair. In summer the courtyard garden is fragrant with herbs. In winter you can snuggle up in the warmth of the Great Hall’s inglenook. Bedrooms are glorious and beamed, some with four-posters. Dinner isn’t served, but walking into pretty, medieval Lavenham to dine is all part of the charm. |
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| Inexpensive: Characterful waterfront hotel and fish restaurant |
| Location: Harwich, on the waterfront |
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| This distinctive 1864 waterfront hotel was built to accommodate passengers for the Continent. Today people pile into the contemporary fisherman’s wharf-style bistro/bar for proper fish and chips and daily specials. You write your order on a notepad and hand it in at the bar. Bedrooms have deep, white-sheeted beds and tongue-and-groove panelling. And the view – a seascape of pier, tugs, ferries and boats beetling about on the water – never palls. |
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| Inexpensive: Restaurant with pretty bedrooms in a village inn |
| Location: Nayland High Street |
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| Nayland is a pretty cobbled village, and the White Hart, a 15th-century inn, was a popular posting stop for coaches. Nowadays it perfectly balances the old and the contemporary, characterised by the beamed bedrooms, whose tasteful pale walls are enlivened by cheerful checked fabrics. But though the rooms are comfortable, it's the excellent and imaginative cooking, from a recently arrived chef with an impressive pedigree of top-flight restaurants behind him, that really makes the difference. One to watch. |
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| Inexpensive: TV hotelier Ruth Watson's own excellent hotel |
| Location: in the centre of Orford |
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| How refreshing to find a hotel with hands-on owners, who have their priorities right. David and Ruth Watson (yes, she’s the TV presenter) were already well-known hoteliers when they set about making this (originally) 16th-century inn their own. Their aim was “to create a new concept in hospitality, offering a genial atmosphere, good food and well-designed, simple bedrooms at modest cost”. Nothing is surface, nor clichéd, nor overpriced. They’ve succeeded in spades. |
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