On Saturday John and I took ourselves off to the pretty medieval market town of Coggeshall a 40 minute drive from home.
The town lies on the Roman Road of Stane Street between Colchester and Braintree and can be traced back to around 1140 when a burgeoning textile trade sprung up around Coggeshall Abbey and the town's trade route to London.
The hub of the town is the White Hart Inn in Market End which dates back to around 1420 and is thought to have once been the old Guild Hall.
The clock house was built in the 16th century and was formerly a
school for poor children. The clock tower was added in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden jubilee.
We had a lovely hot lunch in the Clockhouse Tearooms (whilst it was snowing heavily outside)
This was the rear of the cafe where they had a small garden nursery which we wanted to have a nose around. You can see the buildings are very wibbly wobbly
While we were there we paid a visit to this National Trust property Paycocke's, built in 1550 by leading cloth merchant Thomas Paycocke who wanted to show off his family's wealth and a grand example of the wealth generated by East Anglia's
wool trade in Tudor England.
This was the rear of the building which led us to the rambling gardens and
also the coffee shop!
and again you can see the misshapen and slightly leaning buildings
Such a pretty town and because of the weather (I know it looks fine here) we didn't see as much as we'd have liked
I couldn't go home before loitering around a quant little shop or two - like you do - and I just happened to come across these gorgeous mother-of-pearl cake knives and forks, which John very kindly treated me to. I'm over the moon, they're so sweet.
and - just as we were paying I caught sight of the matching spoons - job done!
Can't wait to go back now - the town of course.
See you soon x
See you soon x
What a wonderful photos Patricia.I have visited this beautiful village last year, it's stunning.
ReplyDeleteI love your knives,forks and spoons..
Hugs
Erna
What an interesting and pretty place, I bet it is busy with visitors in thee summer.
ReplyDeleteXx
You always go to such interesting places Patricia. This town looks so quaint.. the buildings slanting and all the tudor style buildings. It looks as though it has charm.
ReplyDeleteYour knives and forks are so beautiful.. what a great find.
look forward to seeing your photos of your next outing.
hugs
val x x x
Hi Patricia, I loved this little stroll with you. The town looks like something from a story book. What a sweet husband you have . . . I love the gift he bought you, so pretty.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is our 37th wedding anniversary and to celebrate we are having a $25 gift card give-a-way. Please help us celebrate by entering the drawing :)
Have a wonderful week . . . I'll bet you can not wait to use your new knives and forks :)
Your blogging sister, Connie :)
What a lovely town to visit, so very pretty, love the look of your new cake set.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous place to visit and such a pretty find/gift for you! Suzy x
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful old buildings, and I love the fancy cutlery too x
ReplyDeletePatricia, I glad you had lovely trip, nice old houses, I liked more the striped one. Your purchase is wonderful, never seen such awesome forks.knives and spoon!
ReplyDeleteGreat place. And I love the cake forks.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely - I like the 'wibbly wobbly' buildings and your little set of cutlery too! Coggeshall and Paycocke's look so interesting, I think I too would want to return to see more in finer weather:)
ReplyDeleteThat does look a very pretty place. Nice to see so many old buildings in one place. Good buy with the cakes utensils.
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely place to spend a day, despite the weather! I am hoping to get out the old National Trust card this week as I am off/escaped from work, lets hope the snow stays away..
ReplyDeleteHappy (belated) Easter to you and yours
BH x
(love the post cake cutlery!)
What a pretty town to visit, and I enjoyed your photos so much; brought back pleasant memories of holidays in Essex when our daughter was teaching there. The cutlery is a fantastic find and you will have some very elegant teatimes with those!
ReplyDeleteOh Patricia, what a fab little town you've introduced me to! Lovely pictures, I'd love to visit, and not tooooooo far away from Norfolk!
ReplyDeleteWell done on the cutlery front!
Those are super photos of a really lovely little town, Patricia, so full of history and marvellous architecture. My idea of a perfect day out. Your teatime cutlery set makes the most gorgeous souvenir. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely town to visit - all those old buildings look so wonderful and your cutlery set was an extra bonus.
ReplyDeleteSarah x
Thank you for sharing your trip to Coggeshall which looks like it retains many historical features and quaint architecture. I'm interested in the county of Essex as I've traced back a branch of my family to the area around Chelmsford. My maternal great-greats lived in the rural area around Boreham and Hatfield Peverel before my great grandfather moved as a young boy to Northumberland. I'm sure you will want to go back and see some more of Coggeshall when the weather is better. The cutlery set was a great bonus from a thoughtful husband.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating place. The buildings are so beautiful. The cutlery was a great find. xx
ReplyDeleteThose cake knives and forks are beautiful, surely any cake will taste a thousand times better if eaten with those and what a lovely town. I will wonder what those houses are like inside.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! I live in the US and have Coggeshalls in my family. I've traced the family back to Rhode Island where John Coggeshall was the first president of the Colony of Rhode Island and of Providence Plantation. He was baptized at Halstead,Essex in 1601, lived at Castle Hedingham where several of his children were baptized, and emigrated with his family in 1632 to Roxbury,Massachusetts. Thank you so much for sharing the photos. I feel like I got a little peek into the life of my Coggeshall family on the other side of the pond.
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