Sudbury in Suffolk is a medieval market town on the River Stour. The English artist Thomas Gainsborough was born in the town in 1727 and there is a museum dedicated to him. Sadly, we arrived quite late in the day, so we didn’t have time to do much exploring, but from what we saw it’s a pretty town. The Waterstones opened in November 2023 and is located on the site of an old hotel called The Four Swans, which burnt down in 1997. The hotel building was severely damage, and had to be demolished, and when rebuilt as shops, the design was made to look similar to the former hotel. You can see a photo of the original building on this site.
Lavenham Guildhall
On our way to Sudbury (when the weather was nicer!) we stopped at Lavenham to visit the old Guildhall, which is now owned by the National Trust. Built in the early 16th century for the Guild of Corpus Christi, this was one of four medieval guilds in Lavenham. The decline in the woollen cloth trade saw the building repurposed as a prison, and then later a workhouse. It passed into NT ownership in 1951.
Thomas Gainsborough’s house, and his statue in the town
The Thomas Gainsborough House picture above is by John Firth, CC BY-SA 2.0
Janet's Adventures in Waterstones 