Paycockes at Coggeshall

Thursday October 14th

Today was the day I finally got to go to Coggeshall and visit Paycockes. We checked the website before we set out to make sure it was open. Built around 1500 for Thomas Paycocke, the house is a grand example of the wealth generated by the cloth trade in the 16th century. Outside, there is a beautiful and tranquil cottage garden which the custodians who live in the house attend to they also run chickens and have a good vegetable garden to keep the authentic look. The interior features stunning woodcarving and elaborate panelling. Using a lot of wood especially carved wood in house at this time was a sign of wealth and this has wonderful carved beams in the ceilings and wall panels as well. This year it celebrated 500 years. It is one of the finest surviving buildings from this time. The whole village is a treasure trove of period cottages well preserved and still being lived in. They are small and colourful which is a feature of the Suffolk and Essex villages. After looking through the house and garden we walked through the village and into the town square where the weekly produce market was being held.


Ann was with us and had bought a combined ticket to visit the Grange Barn just out of the village as well. We were entering using our NZ Historic Places Trust cards. At the house they told us the barn opened at 1 pm so we ate our lunch and waited by the gate for opening time. There were others waiting there as well. Finally at 1.20 a lady arrived and opened the gate and drove her car in. We followed her in and parked in the car park. Other people started to arrive but there was no sign of the building being opened up. The woman who had the key to open the gate didn’t seem to appear to open the actual barn. One of the other people said he had seen her walking off in the direction of the village. We all thought this very strange. In the end the other chap went to his car and got the national Trust book and rang Paycockes who apologised and said it wasn’t opening anymore. On the way out we looked at the sign and it said that was open until the end of the 2nd week in October. We thought that this would mean it was still open on the 14th but apparently not. We took Ann back to get her refund.


Ann and I realised that we were quite near the Freeport Outlet Centre and that would be a fun place to visit. So we headed off for there and Alan was happy to read to his newspaper in the car. It was a good outlet centre with lots of temptations and we both came back with green M and S bags with bargains we had found. By 4pm it had got cold and drizzly and it was time to head back for home before the roads got too busy with the commuter traffic.