Essex Days Out

Yesterday was spectacularly wet in Essex, not a day for going out in. Today was a total contrast – beautiful blue skies.

We drove out to Lavenham for lunch – a lovely drive out on the A134 through Leavenheath and Newton, and taking the shortcut across to Great Waldingfield and then to Lavenham.

The Cock at Lavenham was our destination, which we went to a lot in years gone by due to it being family friendly, with the standbys of burgers and lasagne on the menu for our children when they were of an age not to want to try anything different!

There was a good choice of beer today – Woodford Wherry and Hobgoblin being our choices. The menu was traditional ‘pub grub’ with portion sizes to match. Starters were whitebait, and a ‘shared platter’ which give deep fried mushrooms, brie wedges, onions with a variety of dips.

Mains were a 12oz steak, lasagne, liver and bacon casserole, and beef madras. The only problem was the portion size : humungous! The beef in the curry, and the liver, were both melt in the mouth delicious, the lasagne had big chunks of mincemeat, and the steak disappeared very quickly.

Service was prompt, despite their being a large party already in there (on the odd occasion over the years service has been a little patchy, but only very rarely). And the bill wasn’t as large as the portions might suggest. None of this silly stuff you get in reviews in the newspaper we read – two can have lunch for £120 sort of thing, the four of us ate very well and had drinks as well, and it came out less than £20 a head.

And the pub even laid on a little entertainment, with a squirrel in the garden joining us.

A walk around the village was in order, and a few pictures follow. We’ll be posting a fuller review of Lavenham as a destination in due course. Please do leave any suggestions in the comment boxes below.

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