📍 Bury St. Edmunds
Some of you may be thinking "Bury St. Edmunds? Why would she go there?" and I totally get it... It's not exactly the #1 spot people think of when they think "England," but it is for us!
My Dad was stationed in England for 6 years and lived in Bury the majority of that time, so it's always been at the top of our list for our England visit!
And -that- is why we made sure to make our way to Bury St. Edmunds for the weekend.
Accommodation
The entire weekend, we stayed at the Premier Inn in town center. It was a lovely location! Very easy walk to everything in town and it's only a beautiful 3 minute walk to the Abbey and the Abbey gardens. So beautiful!
Transport
We didn't go as many places as we did in London, but when we did, we got all of our rides from friends in the area. [except for transport to the train station which was £6.]
Where We Ate
Dog & Partridge - 9/10 - So good! I got the House burger which is served with house seasoned fries. Everything we had was so delicious!
Ivy & Bond Tea Room (Lavenham) - 9/10 - We had a quintessential afternoon tea and everything, truly everything, was amazing! From the sandwiches to the cakes, we had a lovely meal!
Bill's - 6/10 - I got the chicken Caesar salad, which was a basic caesar! Nothing terrible, but nothing to write home about, as they say.
*We found that a lot of restaurants in Bury close at 5pm sharp, and those that don't, are reservation only. - On our last night, we entered no less than 3 restaurants where staff approached us as per usual... until the "Do you have a reservation? -- We're only taking reservations. Sorry." convo. (mind you there are no signs stating that they're reservations only... it's kind of an iykyk thing i guess? we aren't really sure, but consider this my official warning to you!*
Day 1
We arrived in early afternoon and took a short walk around the abbey gardens while we waited to check in to the hotel. The abbey and the gardens were just absolutely stunning! So cool to finally see them in person after years of looking at photos. It was the perfect spring time weather!
Once it was time for check in, we then made our way to the hotel and chilled there for a couple hours until it was time to go to dinner at "Dog & Partridge" where we met all of my Dad's friends from when he lived here! Such a lovely time! After dinner, we ended the night with a beautiful, and short, walk back to the hotel.
Day 2
Day 2, we woke up early to head to Bury's Saturday Market! Which was such a beautiful, and typical, farmer's market with tons of choices of fresh produce and unique hand made items! We got a quick bite to eat at the market and decided to take it to go so we could have a little picnic in the Abbey Gardens! My little brother even got to feed a whole bunch of birds, which he loved! From there we took a leisurely stroll through the Abbey Gardens, stopping every so often just to admire the gorgeous scenery and incredible spring blooms!
Then we made our way back to our hotel to freshen up, before heading to Lavenham to finally meet some of my Dad's friend's family!
The ride to Lavenham, through the english countryside, was phenomanal! And Lavenham itself was just magnificent! All of the houses are so unique and colorful, it was stunning! We made our way to their home and caught up with the family for a bit before heading to afternoon tea at "Ivy & Bond Tea Room," which was a beautiful experience! The staff was so wonderful and the food was amazing! (I especially loved the chocolate cake ;))
After tea, we made our way back to Lavenham where the family took us on a little tour around town to see all the detailed houses. Including a Harry Potter, Godrick's Hollow filming location. So cool! We also got to see more of the amazing houses, and the beautiful church just down the road!
After more catching up, we headed back to Bury, where we chilled in our hotel room for a bit before heading out for dinner and a run to little Tesco. Then we made our way to our hotel to crash, and that was our time in Bury St. Edmunds!
Daily Budget
Food - Given that we really only ate about one meal a day with a few snacks surrounding, our daily food and drink costs (per person) were about £20.
Transit - Most of our rides were from friends in the area, but we did take one taxi to the train station for £6.
Souvenirs - We didn't get any souvenirs while in Bury, but from what we saw, the prices seem reasonable!
Accommodation - We ended up with 2 rooms at the Premier Inn for 2 nights for £125 a night.
Total - roughly £150 a day.
What I wore
As I mentioned, the weather was beautiful! Wonderful spring weather, so we were able to get away with tank tops and light, flowy pants! My biggest tip, no matter when you're going, is to check the weather daily! Heck check it twice daily! If there was anything we learned leading up to this trip it's that England's weather is so finicky - So keep an eye on it!
What I Would & Wouldn't Do Again
There's nothing I wouldn't do again! We had a lovely, chill weekend in Bury!
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