Just back from a few days in Suffolk.
We stayed in a small field barn conversion on what was previously a dairy farm that dated back to the 16th century.
There were a dozen or so barns of various sizes, plus some rather dinky shepherds’ huts. The smallest barn was a single room. Others had one, two, or four bedrooms with a comfortable open plan kitchen/diner/living area.
Ours had a single bedroom. There was also a battery of wall switches that was so complicated it took me 15 minutes to puzzle out how to get the lighting the way we wanted.
Breakfast and dinner were served in the Great Barn, which in winter has an impressive log fire.
The nearest village - a 30-minute walk from our rural ‘retreat’ - was originally an old Roman settlement.
Today it’s home to 600 people and features houses going back to Tudor times while parts of the parish church go back even further.
There’s also a 300-year-old shop that sells groceries. In 2021 it faced permanent closure when the owners, whose family had run it for 100 years, retired, but villagers stepped in and it is now run as a community shop and cafe.
As it happens, we originally intended staying at the refurbished Swan Hotel in Southwold, on the coast, but the weather forecast predicted persistent rain so I thought better of it because, much as I like Southwold, rain and seaside don’t mix, for me at least.
Viewed from the comfort of our cosy barn, I think I made the right choice. Another time, perhaps.
