The Great House Hotel And Restaurant

Hotels in Sudbury (Suffolk)

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Market Place
Lavenham
Sudbury
Suffolk
CO10 9QZ

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Key Services

5 star hotel, 5 star restaurant, bed and breakfast



About

  • Located in center of historic town of Lavenham
  • Boutique hotel with award winning restaurant
  • Plenty to visit in Lavenham and Suffolk
  • French chic meets quintessential English charm

5 star hotel
5 star restaurant
bed and breakfast
boutique hotel
country bed and breakfast
country hotel
french restaurant
Great House Hotel And Restaurant
guest house
restaurant

HISTORY OF THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS FAMOUS PEOPLE

The Great House is located in the Market Place of Lavenham, one of the finest and most beautiful medieval villages in England. It was built in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Caustons, an important weaving family during the height of the town's importance and wealth that was based on its textile industry. Part of one of the 14th century chimney can still be seen in one of the hotel bedroom. The building was then modernized with the addition of the imposing Georgian façade in the 18th century.

During the 1920s, Major Gayer-Anderson and his twin, Colonel Gayer-Anderson, bought The Great House. Major Gayer Anderson was in the Royal Army Medical Corps and spent most of his military life in Egypt, becoming an avid and successful collector of pictures, furniture, carpets, curios and other objects. His substantial collection included one of his best finds, a life-size Egyptian bronze cat that he presented to the British Museum, where it is known as the Gayer-Anderson Cat. He gave his vast collection to the Egyptian government and it is housed at the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo, where he had lived next to the mosque of Ibn Tulum. He was awarded the title of Pasha in 1943 by King Farouk of Egypt in return.

When the Gayer-Andersons brought The Great House, the purchase also included six cottages, one of which was the 15th century Hall House next door that had also been built during Lavenham's period of wealth from the wool trade. The Colonel undertook to restore the Hall back to its original form and he and his brother moved there in 1935. Today it is now the Little Hall Museum and is open to visitors.

In 1938, the renowned photographer and artist Humphrey Spender bought the Great House for £1,200 from the Gayer-Andersons. His brother, the celebrated poet Steven Spender, also lived at The Great House during the late 1930s and the house became a meeting place for many famous artists and poets of that time.

Humphrey Spender was best known for his photographs of working class life in Britain from the Depression until the 1950s but he also enjoyed success as a painter and designer. He created an amazingly diverse range of works right up to his death, aged 95 in 2005, much of which is held in museums and private collections around the world. Humphrey Spender came back to visit The Crepy's at The Great House in the late 1990's and very kindly gave them photographs of the Great House as it was in the 1930s and 1940s.

From 1940 to 1945, the house was taken over by the Army and was used as an Officers' Mess. The House was sold in 1949 to Gerald Routh Jones for £3,600.

The author Christopher Bush then bought the house in 1953. Bush, was of Quaker ancestry and his family has a recorded history of over four hundred years in the Breckland, the Norfolk village where he was born. His ‘Ludovic Travers' detective stories (63 books) were published in almost every European country as well as in America. Under the pseudonym of MichaelHome, he also wrote The Breckland Novels, the highly successful books of country life. One of these and a book of his ‘memoirs' (reminiscences) are now considered to be classics about the English countryside. Bush lived at the Great House for 20 years until his death in 1973.

In 1974, The Great House was sold to the Barclay- French family for £25,000 before passing to Judy Moore in 1982.

Judy Moore turned The Great House into a restaurant and then, in 1985, it was bought by John Spice and Régis and Martine Crépy and they opened the first three bedrooms in 1986. The Attic space was converted in 1989 to provide a further two bedrooms. John returned to the States in 1992 leaving the Crepys as owners.

Since the Crepys took over The Great House in 1985, they are proud to have been able to continue with its illustrious history, creating one of Britain's finest boutique hotels with an award winning restaurant. They are honoured to be part of many people's lives and welcome the children's children of 30 years ago.

Boutique hotel in historic town of Lavenham, Suffolk

The Great House is a sleek, chic gourmet Restaurant with Rooms on the historic Market Place of Lavenham, Suffolk. The boutique hotel offers 5 individual bedrooms. The mood is pleasantly casual though the cooking is perfectly serious, earthy and imaginative. The Great House in Lavenham is the perfect place for a special night away!

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CO10 9QZ

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Products and Services

We offer these services

  • Licensed
  • Take Away
  • Outdoor Seating
  • High Chairs
  • Baby Changing facilities
  • Restaurant
  • En Suite
  • Wi-Fi
  • Free wi-fi
  • Free Parking

We offer these payment methods

  • American Express
  • Cash
  • Cheque
  • Delta
  • MasterCard
  • Maestro
  • Visa

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