Not Quite Thelma & Louise

Eight villages, two tiny towns, three churches, one fruit farm, a pub, plenty of shops, a continental market, two antique centres and miles of amazing countryside. Now they, if you ask me, are the perfect ingredients for a road trip and a half. And I've just come back from a rather marvellous one indeed to lovely Lavenham in Suffolk.

One dark and freezing night in January my lovely friend Lucy and I got totally carried away in one of our regular discussions about how we love the countryside and discovering beautiful new villages especially. And then a plan began to form - how about a road trip to somewhere neither of us had been before for a bit of a nosey around?

So Suffolk we plumped for having heard very good things, somewhere to stay was booked, travel guides dug out and the waiting began. And it's been a long time coming but finally we set off on Saturday with bacon sandwiches to munch on the journey and headed east for Lavenham.

I hardly know how to describe this beautiful corner of England really. It's chocolate box and more, but in the most hugely charming way. I absolutely fell in love with the corner of the county we trailed through; such a different place to the hill farming country I know.

I've taken so many photos that I'm planning a couple of posts to share the delights we discovered in 36 hours away. Today is all about the tiny town and the amazing architecture there. Even on Saturday afternoon it was ever so calm and quiet, just a few tourists like us ruffling the surface of this little place.

A centre of the medieval Suffolk wool trade, Lavenham and its guild grew rich on the profits and the buildings that give the place its special character are testament to its past.

Lucy and I though were here for a potter about. (I studied the medieval wool trade at university years ago and that's plenty thanks!) We spent the day strolling the pretty streets, admiring wonderful gardens and floral displays and mostly wondering if somewhere so impossibly pretty really exisits or we were just imagining it.

Even the Londis was pretty. And the butcher and baker (no candlestickmaker) were delightful, straight out of a child's story book.

Later in the afternoon we found the church and even for a wool church (usually huge and ornate thanks to the wealth of their original benefactors) it was particularly glorious. Full of light and astounding glass.

And by then we were a little bit foot sore and it was time to head off to our little place for the night. So not quite Thelma & Louise but very, very Lucy & Steph. More next time.