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Checklist

	Open Christmas / New Year		Central heating		Television		Telephone
	Unfenced Garden		Barbeque		DVD player		Cooker and hob
	Off road parking		1 bathroom		CD player		Washing machine
	Secure storage for bikes		Shower over Bath		Bed linen provided		Clothes dryer
	Bikes provided		Microwave		Towels provided		Clothes airer / washing line
	Ground floor bedroom		Fridge		Breakfast basket provided
	Ground floor bathrooom		Freezer / compartment		Basics of tea, coffee, sugar provided
	Open Fire		Iron and Board		Internet Access

The conversion is airy, clean with sunny rooms and an excellently well equipped and spacious kitchen.

Scrumpy's is centrally heated and cosy all year round.

There is lots of secure parking space.

The photos were taken on the first day of moving in, so there are some nicer pieces of furniture going in and a bigger  kitchen table and more personal lighting.

There is a private patio garden to the rear of Scrumpy's over looking the river valley and direct access to a lovely footpath with pretty walks along the valley.

There is a tiny hamlet close to the church and the picturesque Suffolk  village of Bildeston is about a mile down the valley road.

The Historical Market town of Hadleigh is a 4 minute drive away and has a good selection of proper old fashioned shops and a Co-Op supermarket.

Ipswich (which has all the shops you could want and a main line station) is a 15 minute drive away. Colchester ( also London Main line intercity station) is about 25 mins away.

This is a very convenient and ready to live in home for anyone caught out in the buying and selling process.

It is also a great economic option for larger families looking for a week or 2 away.

Well behaved pets are always welcome, please refer to this web page  All About Bringing Pets  for charges and how this cottage may suit your pet.

All prices include vat, towels, soap, linen, heating, a 'Proper English Breakfast' welcome pack and a supply of breakfast basics like real coffee and tea etc.
The cottage is a complete little home and facilities include modern heating, TV, DVD player, books, games and a fully equipped kitchen including electric hob and oven and a microwave.
A travel cot is provided for babies (please bring your own bedding)

               
Photo taken in Snow Cottage

We can now offer you the hedonistic enjoyment of a really 
lovely massage in this cottage, please click this link for 
more information.  Click for Massage info                                           

About Suffolk

In Charles Dickens's days, boys living in Scotland and here in East Anglia would be allowed to leave boarding school a day early because it took so long to get back home to those places.

Even though we are just 60 miles from London, this area was always very inaccessible and remained so until very recent times.

Now the local mainline train journey to London is a mere 45 minutes and a car journey takes about an hour and a half.

But still Suffolk has retained an unusually strong independent rural atmosphere and one of the great joys of the area are the beautiful little hamlets that even locals get lost getting to though the meandering 'spiders web' of tiny lanes and byroads. Many of these villages are wonderfully preserved in their medieval origins, our local village of Lavenham being a fantastic example.

The area is very rich in History from the Saxon treasure of Sutton Hoo and the rebel Queen Boadicea who defeated the Romans, right up to the many expeditions of Settlers leaving for America - in fact the First Governor of Massachusetts came from this tiny hamlet of Edwardstone when I am based at The Old Grove Farm.

The landscape and the Architectural beauty of the area has long inspired Artists to work and move here. The greatest English landscape painter John Constable painted all his famous masterpieces along the Stour which is just 5 miles from The Grove Cottages. His work undoubtedly created this landscape as the quintessential English Landscape, which is one reason why visitors to the area feel so at home.

Flatford Mill where many of Constables most well known works of art such as 'The Haywain' were painted is now a National Trust area devoted to this artist and preserving his memory and the area he made so famous.

The Great Portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough lived in Sudbury which is the closest town to us and it is a real pleasure to visit his home which is now a very interesting museum and exciting showplace for local artists and events, it also has a wonderful print making workshop where courses on all kinds of printmaking are constantly held and very much sought after.

The great artist Sir Alfred Munnings, famous for his portraits of Rural Suffolk Life lived and had his studio close to the river Stour at Dedham and these are now an interesting museum devoted to him and his works of art.

For more information, please visit: my  'What to Do' Web Pages where I have an extensive insiders guide to South Suffolk

Here are a few photos I took around the area of Lavenham, Long Melford and Polsted - The seaside is at Aldeburgh which is a totally unspoilt seaside village, famous for its Arts events and good food - it is about 50 minutes from Lavenham.

           



Below is a recent article about the Suffolk Coast

Joanna Symons, Telegraph Travel Newspaper January 2nd 2010.

'Popular though the Lake District and West Country are as tourist destinations, they can be rather damp. If you want to reduce the risk of a rainy holiday, statistics show that you should head east.

Suffolk for instance, had only about a third as much rainfall as the Lake District last summer. It also happens to have one of the loveliest stretches of coastline in Britain.



The Met office regional statistics per annum.

                        The Lake District             Suffolk

Rain fall         2300 - 3900mm          600 - 660 mm