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Sudbury b&b, guest house and hotel accommodation

Visit Sudbury and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Sudbury, Suffolk. Sudbury on the River Stour is a very ancient borough, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and formerly an important cloth and market town. The “Eatanswill” of Pickwick Papers, the town is also famous as the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88). On Market Hill stands a bronze statue to the great painter, whose house nearby has been adapted to serve partly as a memorial and partly as a local art centre. The house was originally Tudor but the fine Georgian front was added by the painter's father, a local cloth merchant, shortly before Thomas was born. After studying in London the artist married and returned to Sudbury, shortly afterwards settling at Ipswich. Success as a portrait painter led him to move to Bath where he very soon established himself in the first rank. In 1768 he was invited to become one of the founder members of the new Royal Academy in London, the President of which was his great rival Sir Joshua Reynolds. Though a portrait painter by profession, Gainsborough was by inclination a painter of landscapes and also a musician of considerable talent. His nephew, Gainsborough Dupont, was his only recorded pupil, some of whose best works have been attributed to the master himself. Gainsborough House contains a number of pictures by the artist, and many relics of his period. He died in 1788 and is buried in Kew Churchyard.

St Gregory's, at the west end of the town, was rebuilt c. 1365 on a very ancient foundation by Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in 1381 at the time of the Peasants' Revolt. His head is preserved in the vestry. The telescopic font-cover is one of the finest in the country.

The Parish Church of St Peter, mainly late 15^th-century, on Market Hill was the chapel of ease of St Gregory's and an important wool church; it contains an interesting painting of Moses and Aaron c. 1730 by Robert Cardinall, a local painter; and a l5^th-century embroidered velvet funeral pall. All Saints', another l5^th-century wool church, has a painting showing the family tree of the Eden and Waldegrave families.

The Corn Exchange on Market Hill is an excellent example of early Victorian civic building.

Past Gainsborough House at No. 46 Gainsborough Street, you come to Stour Street with The Chantry and Salter's Hall, a merchant's house, both 15^th-century. Note the half-timbering and corner posts of the former and the fine carving on the latter.

Nearby towns: Braintree, Bury St Edmunds, Halstead, Ipswich, Colchester, Hadleigh, Haverhill, Lavenham, Stowmarket

Nearby villages: Alpheton, Assington, Belchamp Otten, Belchamp St. Paul, Bildeston, Borley, Boxted, Brent Eleigh, Brettenham, Bulmer, Bures, Castle Hedingham, Cavendish, Chelsworth, Clare, Denston, Edwardstone, Gestingthorpe, Glemsford, Great Cornard, Great Maplestead, Great Waldingfield, Hartest, Hawkedon, Hitcham, Lamarsh, Lawshall, Liston, Long Melford, Monks Eleigh, Mount Bures, Nayland, Pebmarsh, Polstead, Poslingford, Shimpling, Sible Hedingham, Stanstead, Stoke-by-Nayland, Wissington, Wormingford

Have you decided to visit Sudbury or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Sudbury bed and breakfast (a Sudbury B&B or Sudbury b and b)
• a Sudbury guest house (also spelt guesthouse)
• a Sudbury hotel (or motel)
• a Sudbury self-catering establishment, or
• other Sudbury accommodation