East Anglia is one of those places that suits every season – hikes across crisp, frosted mudflats, wrapped up warm against a brisk North Sea breeze; spring hedgerows, budding oak spinneys and Constable skies; sunny beaches and lazy afternoons; or those most excellent autumn afternoons reeking of woodsmoke and bonfires, cosy hearths and deep sunsets.
We arrive bathed in golden late-afternoon light. The kind of early autumn sun that’s still warm on your skin, even though the air around it is crisp and fresh.
We’ve bunked off for a midweek night away with the dog in Suffolk, specifically the decent-sized village of Bildeston, with its rows of cosy cottages linking winding little streets. These lanes somehow find their way to a pretty square with a 19th-century clock tower and war memorial. I take a moment to read the names and am again moved to see two, three or occasionally four with the same family name. What a thing that was.
It’s the kind of place you can forget exists if you live in London. Quiet, unassuming and full of people who know which mushrooms can be used for what.
Just off the square is The Crown – a 15th-century former coaching inn, standing proud, twisted yet firm. A permanent edifice through half a millennium of human folly and triumph.
We drag our small human backpacks and the dog’s oversized, overflowing bag for life into reception, where we’re greeted by Callum. As soon as I say my name, he reaches under the desk for a dog bowl. He knows who I am and remembers we’re bringing the hound. A personal touch that is most welcome and not unnoticed.
Callum perfects the moment by passing over a pretty little chilled thermos with milk – “for teas and coffees; if you take milk, of course, ha ha”. I instantly like him and his attention to personal detail. You expect big service elements – good food, clean rooms, a warm shower – in a place like this, but it’s the details around the edges that set an establishment apart and make you want to come back. Good job.
Each of the newly renovated bedrooms is unique – for historical reasons as much as design. The Crown is around 500 years old, and there isn’t a right angle in the building. The dog drops her ball and it immediately rolls towards a corner. It’s like an exposed-beam-and-neat-plaster scene from the movie Inception. There’s a giant hearth you could fit a bed in, a stone-floored bathroom bigger than our kitchen at home, and a pretty four-poster bed. The latter doesn’t have any drapes. Good choice – you want to see the whole room.
The bathroom, like so many rooms in buildings of its venerable generation, has those wonderful low windows that give soft side lighting, making the room, and anyone in it, more handsome.
The Crown is running a two-nights-with-dinner-on-the-first-night deal. And the food is a big reason to come. Scottish chef Greig Young is building a reputation for innovative farm food sourced from (in this case, literally) the back garden. The Crown is part of Nedging Hall Estate, which grows much of its own produce and supplies game from the estate. Very little on our plates has travelled far. Let’s tuck in.
We scan the menu over a glass of Kentish sparkling wine. OK, so there are a couple of things they have to bring in from off the estate, but Kent’s a lot closer than France. It’s perfectly lovely. Wine bores will drone on about how it’s not as complex and layered as its French cousins, but there are none of them at my table this evening. I really enjoy the light, crisp, refreshing glug. Try it. Ironically, its relatively modest food miles aren’t adding much to the climate crisis, which in turn is actually helping English wine. Hmmm.
To get your taste buds in the mood, I recommend the Scotch quail eggs and aubergine pickle. Quail eggs – swaddled in a layer of peppery sausage meat – deliver all the umami of their larger cousins, just in a smaller package, so you don’t get that dry mouth that can sometimes happen with the bigger variety. But the reason to order this is the aubergine pickle. My first question after tasting it was, “Do you have a shop?” Cumin and curry spices, pickled in balsamic. It’s warm and spicy and sweet and gooey, with chunks of smoky aubergine. Callum, now our erstwhile guide to the meal, tells us the trick with focusing on local produce is not to flood the menu with what’s in season, which would get monotonous for kitchen and diner alike. Rather, it is to find ways to make the harvest last through the whole year. They’ve nailed it with the pickled aubergines.
You could also try the delicious chicken-liver parfait – with its peppery butter coat and some delightful and very moreish pickled cherries that cut through the fat. Just balance it with a long country walk tomorrow.
Or they do a sensational salmon, cured in treacle and then seared. Laid on a bed of garden peas and shoots with a yoghurt cream. It’s really well designed and made and wonderfully light. Like eating fresh country air.
The kitchen reacts to what has come off the land, so you might not get exactly what we had, but tonight there’s a robust portion of roast pigeon – deep, dark meat and quartered plums smothered in a sweet, rich plum-and-beetroot ketchup. With some lovely potato rösti to soak up any leftover sauce. All deep reds and golden browns; autumn on a plate. Rösti chips are made from grated potato pressed into shape, unlike pavé, which creates a similar effect using thin slices of potato. But you knew that.
And I had glazed pork – the same treacle they do the salmon in – with garlic croquettes and more garden beans. Deep and velvety and juicy.
For dessert, we tried one of Greig Young’s signature desserts – the chocolate and pumpkin-seed millefeuille, espresso caramel and mascarpone ice cream.
It’s good, especially if you like seeds. It’s a light, healthier dessert. Or if it isn’t really healthier, it feels like it.
But I like my desserts unabashed. So, when I go back, I’ll reorder the iced cheesecake parfait with strawberry sorbet and black-pepper caramel. Now that’s a dessert. Sweet and unctuous and screaming “pudding!” I don’t know exactly how they make it, but it felt like they’d given an already good cheesecake a couple of jolts in a blender and then frozen it. Biscuity and creamy and fruity. Give it a go.
All in all, a delightfully tasty, intelligent and well-thought-through menu. I’m already making plans to return and see what bounty the estate gives up next time.
Oh – and I do recommend the wine flight. No need to go into the details of each glass here (see above re wine bores). You’ll almost certainly have different food choices anyway. But my advice is: trust Callum to make your pairings. He knows what he’s doing and is delightful when he explains why he made his picks. Worth the ticket on its own.
The next day, there’s plenty to amuse.
After a fine breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and eggs Benedict, we set off to explore Suffolk. (Breakfast at The Crown is perfectly good, but not as adventurous as their offerings in the evening.)
There are plenty of rambles and bike rides from the door of the coaching inn. We took a two-hour tramp over fields to The Red Rose, The Crown’s sister establishment. (We didn’t go in – we were too early.) But the walk takes you through the impossibly picturesque village of Chelsworth, which is definitely worth it. One of those places where the reality is as good as the images in the brochure. Unlike, perhaps…
Fifteen minutes or so from The Crown is the village of Lavenham and the Crooked House. There, fans of a certain age can stand outside De Vere House, used as the exterior of Harry Potter’s childhood home in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Worth a detour if you’re into that kind of thing, but once you’ve stood outside and noted it is indeed crooked, there’s not much else to do with it. I preferred tramping over the fields.
Or, if you can drive or cycle further, there’s an abundance of Second World War airfields, the Suffolk Coast Path and, of course, the Anglo-Saxon treasures at Sutton Hoo – all happy distractions for a Wednesday afternoon, knowing everyone else is in the office. Resist the urge to check your phone. It can wait.
A midweek skive-off is a luxury we don’t get very often, so we have to pick our destinations carefully. But if you can get away, you won’t do much better than The Crown in Bildeston. A delightful old building run by even more delightful young staff. Fun, fresh, local food. With plenty to do in Suffolk too. I’m looking forward to coming back.
Stay two nights with a three-course dinner on the first evening and wake up to a Suffolk breakfast both mornings. From £300, Sunday–Thursday.
The Crown at Biddlestone, 104 High Street, Bildeston, IP7 7EB – The Crown at Biddlestone – 01449 740510
Dining hours: Monday-Friday 7-10AM, 12-2.30PM, 6-8.30PM; Saturday 8-10AM, 12-8.45PM; Sunday 8-10AM, 12-3.45PM, 6-7.30PM
