Long Melford, Suffolk, named as ‘the perfect English village’ by national newspaper

A Suffolk wool town has been named the ‘perfect English village’ by a national newspaper.

Long Melford was lauded for its history, vintage stores, veggie delis, art galleries and tearooms in The Telegraph.

The newspaper also noted its ‘two manor houses, multiple pubs, an enormous church’ and – ‘despite the loss of all those antiques emporia – a wealth of independent businesses’.

Travel writer, Sarah Baxter visited the Black Lion Inn, Melford Antiques, Interiors & Lifestyle Centre and Pullmans tearooms, Holy Trinity and Kentwell Hall, Long Melford Museum and Heritage Centre.

She wrote: “The Black Lion, a smart Georgian inn with good rooms, great food and an excellent location by The Green, at the top of the village. From here you can look down what’s purportedly England’s longest high street, at 2.5 miles.”

She later added: “Strolling further into the village, via the National Trust’s Melford Hall and over the Chad Brook, one of the first doorways I passed had a table outside, selling cloth-topped jars of jumbleberry jam in support of the local library.

“Soon after came the Bull Inn, which was built in the 15th century and has hosted travellers almost ever since, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who bedded-in here in 1969.”

She concludes: “Sitting amid the railwayana of Pullman’s vintage tearoom, sipping from cup-n-saucer and eating a toasted teacake, felt just about right.

“All very quaint and English. Though with a bit of wheeler-dealering thrown in – the Art Nouveau lamp on my table was for sale, should I have a spare £165.

“That’s what happens in Long Melford: you get a dose of quintessential village with a side of being sold old things.”

The article entitled: “In deepest Suffolk, I’ve found the perfect English village’: the antiques capital Long Melford, setting for the cult classic TV series Lovejoy, ‘ticks all the boxes’.

She adds: “The biggest mark against it is that – ‘with a population of around 4,000 these days – Long Melford almost isn’t a village’.

A wool town is a name given to both towns and villages, particularly in Suffolk and north Essex,