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Seven miles from Sudbury, off the A134, lies LAVENHAM , formerly a centre of the region's wool trade and today one of the most visited villages in Suffolk, thanks to its unrivalled ensemble of perfectly preserved half-timbered houses. The whole place has changed little since the demise of the wool industry in the seventeenth century, owing in part to a zealous local preservation society, which has carefully maintained the village's antique appearance by banning from view such excrescences of twentieth-century life as TV aerials. The village is at its most beguiling in the triangular Market Place , an airy spot flanked by pastel-painted, medieval dwellings whose beams have been bent into all sorts of wonky angles by the passing of the years. It's here you'll find Lavenham's most celebrated building, the pale-white, timber-framed Corpus Christi Guildhall (April-Oct daily 11am-5pm; GBP3; NT), erected in the sixteenth century as the headquarters of one of Lavenham's four guilds. In the much-altered interior (used successively as a prison and workhouse), there's an exhibition on the woollen industry, but most visitors quickly reach the walled garden and the teashop. Just to the east across the plaza is the mostly fifteenth-century Little Hall (April-Oct Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sun 2-5.30pm; GBP1.50), which contains a modest collection of furniture and objets d'art ; close by - from beside the Angel Hotel . The other building worthy of special notice is the Perpendicular church of St Peter and St Paul (daily: summer 8.30am-5.30pm; winter 8.30am-3.30pm), though it's sited a short walk southwest of the centre, at the top of Church Street. Local merchants endowed the church with a nave of majestic proportions and a mighty flint tower, at 141ft the highest for miles around, partly to celebrate the Tudor victory at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, but mainly to show off their wealth. There are fairly frequent buses to Lavenham from Colchester via Sudbury and Long Melford, with the service continuing on to Bury St Edmunds. The tourist office is located on Lady Street (April-Oct daily 10am-4.45pm; Nov-March Sat & Sun 11am-3pm; tel 01787/248207, lavenhamtic@babergh.gov.uk ), just south off Market Place. They can help with accommodation and sell a detailed, street-by-street walking guide. Rooms at the Swan hotel (tel 01787/247477, ; GBP90-110), a splendid old inn on High Street, are some of the most comfortable in town. Less expensive options on the Market Place include the ancient Angel Hotel (tel 01787/247388, ; GBP70-90), which has eight pleasant rooms above its bar, and the dinky Angel Gallery (tel 01787/248417, GBP50-60), where the three guest rooms are situated above a pocket-sized art shop. For cheaper B&B options, you'll probably end up staying outside Lavenham itself; the tourist office will provide you with details. For food , the Angel Hotel serves up excellent, moderately priced bar meals, as does the Swan . The other choice in Market Place is the Great House (tel 01787/247431; closed Sun & Mon), whose outstanding restaurant serves moderately priced food on both its a la carte and set menus.
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