What’s the draw
The tourist-magnetic wool towns of south Suffolk are river-like in that they swell with visitors during the spring and summer months but are tranquil and still when the weather cools down. Venture eastwards from Sudbury, but not as far as Bildeston, and you’ll happen upon the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village of Chelsworth. The hamlet boasts a population of 120 inhabitants in its picturesque calico-coloured farmhouses. Many, if not most, of the buildings spread along the banks of the bucolic Brett River are pushing half a millennium in age. Just opposite the singletrack bridge and firehouse-red phone booth sits The Peacock Inn.
The Peacock Inn interior
The pub boasts seven rooms at reasonable rates, which are spartan but serve their purpose, facilitating rest for the food comatose. Otherwise, you’ve got the pub. It comprises a larger dining room, a diminutive drinking area, and a PDR. It’s one of those lovely whorled and crooked spaces that has weathered thousands of winter nights, and if its 14th-century timber frames could talk, they’d surely have their own Canterbury Tales to tell. But the reason you travel to The Peacock Inn isn’t for the medieval vibes; it’s for the hard graft taking place in the pub’s kitchens.
The food and drink
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this is the type of spot where you should fall back on public house staples such as fish and chips. If you do opt for them, you can rest easy that you’re going to be eating the highest-quality iterations of those dishes, with some cheffy flourishes thrown in to elevate (such as the truffle and bordelaise pomme puree that accompanies the Hereford beef shin and Suffolk ale pie). However, in doing so, you’d lose out on the full culinary spectrum of a very talented chef. Over two decades, Sam Clover came up through kitchens including The Ledbury, The Fat Duck and Pied à Terre, where he served as sous chef. After ordering a la carte the first evening, it was evident that we’d be missing a trick in not experiencing the tasting menu. Make sure to pack your appetite because this is patently not one of those meals where you’ll feel like they’ve skimped on anything, including wine, which comes compliments of GM Jack Butler, a self-professed oenophile who looks after his tables like a doting parent. Each pairing was a generous-looking 100ml. Multiply that time eight courses… well, it's a bit difficult to do the math after imbibing that volume of vino.
Wild mushroom and egg yolk raviolo with truffle
Lightly cured and torched mackerel with fennel salad, spiced fish soup and red pepper rouille
The meal kicks off with a wodge of homecooked sourdough (our server reports that the starter is 25 years old; older than she is) and a quenelle of miso butter. A cracking croquette releases to reveal an unctuous amalgam of parmesan, truffle, white soy and shoyu, paired with a crisp Tasmanian sparkling blanc de blanc. A fillet of halibut with a salsify barigoule, ventrèche bacon, chanterelles, chervil and a potato pave (like the one at The Quality Chop House) is beguilingly good for such a wee pub. Clover uses our table as guinea pigs to debut his newest addition to the menu, while Butler very kindly coravins three glasses of 2001 Chateau Garenne Puderan bordeaux (one for him, of course). It plays well with a wafer of venison liver paté with sweet wine gel and a dusting of Douglas fir powder, as well as the loin of venison with roasted Roscoff onions. When the meal finally rolls to a conclusion, we’re hard-pressed to shout out our favourite dish; there’s no weak link in the chain.
A cocktail at The Peacock Inn
What else
Make sure you pack your walking shoes and don’t be mud-shy, there’s a lot of pretty countryside to explore, particularly down south in Constable’s favoured Dedham Vale and westwards past Long Melford. If you’d rather walk around town, there are plenty of options to choose from, many of which are just a ten-minute drive away. Dash through The Splash in Kersey, a freshet stream that runs through the centre of the village, which is spread across the two hills of a valley and gives deep Roald Dahl vibes. It’s often been touted as one of the prettiest towns in Suffolk. As has Lavenham, which was used as a stand-in for Godric’s Hollow in the film version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After spending a day visiting pubs that are older than many countries, ogling churches and swilling local beer, it’s clear that these wool towns are cut from a different, erm, cloth.
Rooms start at £175 per night; thepeacockchelsworth.com
