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Click cover for larger view
In this lushly photographed guide, forty-eight of the loveliest
places to stay, eat, and visit throughout England are featured
because they are especially beautiful, “slow,” or inspiring
(or all three). “Slow” embraces an appreciation of
good food and small producers, craftsmanship and community, landscape
and history.
The beautifully maintained lodgings profiled here treasure the
traditional and embrace the eco-friendly—ensuring some
of the most exceptional accommodations and delicious food in
England. There are cottages and castles surrounded by wild and
rambling gardens or a bluebell wood, guestrooms tucked under
the eaves fitted with down comforters and luxurious bathrooms.
Dine on home-baked bread; ice cream churned by hand; hedgerow
jams; local meat, fish and produce; and libations from local
breweries and small vineyards.
For each area of England there are dozens of recommendations
for “slow” things to see and do and places to dine
on artisanal, organic, local food. There are additional listings
of nearby pubs and inns, maps, recipes, useful websites, and
information about “slow” living.
Alastair
Sawday is a writer and publisher whose focus is the environment.
He has led tours in France, guided disaster relief teams in Turkey,
worked for the an international development charity in Papua
New Guinea. He stood for Parliament with the Green Party in 1992.
In 2006 his company, Alastair Sawday Publishing was awarded a Queen’s
Award for Sustainable Development in honor of his commitment
to ecological issues.
Rob
Cousins is British freelance photographer who works for editorial, publishing,
and commercial clients. His clients include the BBC, The National Trust, and Good
Homes Magazine. His work has appeared in numerous British newspapers and
magazines.
Nigel Slater has been the food columnist for The Observer for fifteen
years. Author of seven cookery books, an autobiography and presenter of the
BBC television series “A Taste of my Life,” his latest book is Eating
for England, a personal portrait of the British at table.
“Sawday is a campaigner for the environment and good food. His recommendations are like those of a good friend.” —The Guardian
"Go Slow England is a luscious guide
to B&Bs
high on charm but low on environmental impact."
—Condé Nast
Traveler
8” x 9-1/2”
ISBN 978-1-892145-67-3
Retail price: $24.95
Price: $19.96 (20% off)
Milden Hall, Suffolk
The house is down a long farm drive yet only three miles from Lavenham. It is, unsurprisingly, beautiful—the front “Georgianised” in typical Suffolk style. But there are exposed beams elsewhere on the outside walls and linen-fold panelling within. The bedrooms, ranging from big to vast, have spectacular views across ancient wildflower meadows and the walled garden. One is called the Adams Room, remodeled in the Adam style in 1770 as an upstairs ladies sitting room and with an elegant fireplace and early woodwork…The room was used in the 1800s by eight spinsters who spent their leisure time sewing and spinning. This was a county grown rich on wool, much helped by the Flemish weavers who came over to take part and whose architectural influence can be seen in the gabled Dutch roofs scattered throughout the county. …
Breakfast is delicious: bacon from their own Tamworths and Gloucester Old Spots; eggs from their wandering, tatterdemalion collection of farmyard chickens; wild blewits, parasols and inkcaps from mushroom foraging in the fields; jams from garden and hedge fruits, marmalade from a neighbor, bread from Lavenham.
Innkeepers Juliet and Christopher have devised several car-free days: in and around the gloriously medieval Lavenham; biking around Boxford; a day in Bury St. Edmunds; a boat trip down the River Stour. You can walk the Milden-Lavenham-Milden walk, along generous footpaths through meadows and past poplar plantations, dropping in on church and pub on the way.