There was a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile...

There was a Crooked Man poem

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

I love to travel in the UK!  I was able to mark off another village on my "must see" list yesterday with a friend.  There's a village about 45 minutes away from me called Lavenham. For my American friends, the correct pronunciation is "lav-in-um" with the stressing on "lav" and you say it quickly.  Then you can sound like the locals. (You just said it out loud, didn't you?  Good!)

It was known back in the day as a wealthy wool town.  It was also home to an US Army Air Force in 1944-1945.

According to wikipedia:

"In the late eighteenth century, the village was home to poet Jane Taylor, and it was while living in Shilling Street that she wrote the poem The Star, from which the lyrics for the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are taken."

They also think that the Mother Goose nursery rhyme about a crooked man originated from this village, and some other exciting things have happened here according to wikipedia:

"Lavenham's Market Square was a location for the 1968 Vincent Price film Witchfinder General. In 1986 a more contemporary film Playing Away, about a visiting cricket team from Brixton, was also filmed there.^[20] The Market Square is the setting of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1970 film Apotheosis.^[21] Other filmmakers who have used the village as a location include Stanley Kubrick^[6] and Pier Paolo Pasolini.^[22] In 2010, under conditions of strict secrecy, scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2 were filmed there.^[23]

Lavenham is also the setting for the final episode of the mid-1990s BBC TV drama, Lovejoy. The episode, which aired in December 1994, was titled 'Last Tango in Lavenham'.^[24]

It is believed that the distorted, or "crooked", appearance of many of the town's buildings inspired the poem, "A Crooked Little Man."

Lunch at The Swan was nothing but pure joy.  This building has served as a lodging since before the reign of King Henry VIII.  Even with my stuffy nose and lack of taste buds, my butternut squash soup tasted divine.  Dessert (below) was Caramel and Roasted Hazelnut Brittle Parfait.  Yum!

View of the path headed to the main market square (below)

The church was larger than I expected and was a delight as always with wood carvings, marble, and stained glass windows.

Thanks for stopping by!  Cheerio!