This charming English county rivals the Cotswolds - without the crowds

It's so mellow here it's hard to believe London's throng is but a few hours away. But that's Suffolk for you, a rural county with a similarly idyllic look to the famous Cotswolds, only with fewer tourist crowds. While the latter region is west of London, Suffolk nestles above Essex to the English capital's north-east. I spent a fair chunk of my childhood here and always relish returning, sometimes with loved ones in tow.

My mum and dad have joined me for a walk around Lavenham, which is littered with more than 300 heritage-listed properties, many with wonky, lurching facades, the result of centuries of gradual subsidence. Like other photogenic Suffolk villages such as Clare and Cavendish, Lavenham grew rich from the medieval wool trade - an industry that accounts for the grand, so-called "wool churches" you'll spot as you venture along Suffolk's serpentine country roads.

An imposing Gothic stone landmark, Lavenham's St Peter and St Paul's Church wouldn't look out of place in a much bigger town (the village's population is under 2000). That figure is swelled by visitors, especially in summer. I overhear Germans, Cantonese and Australians navigating the hilly lanes today. Some duck inside The Swan, an upscale hotel, restaurant and spa where supermodel Claudia Schiffer spent the night before her 2002 wedding to movie producer Matthew Vaughn (the newlyweds then bought a remote Tudor manor house 15 kilometres away).

Several of Lavenham's higgledy-piggledy cottages offer self-catering and B&B accommodation, notably De Vere House, said to have been the inspiration for Godric's Hollow - Harry Potter's birthplace - in the wizarding movies. Other filmmakers have gravitated here down the years. Older locals still talk about the winter's day, in 1969, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrived in a white chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce and set off a hot-air balloon from the market square for their art flick, Apotheosis.

John and Yoko stayed at the Bull, an enduring 16th-century inn in Long Melford, another charming nearby village, whose prefix feels apt when you're on its high street. Stretching almost three kilometres, it's lined with quaint homes, rustic watering holes, foodie pubs, galleries and antique shops (in the 1980s and 90s, Lovejoy, a TV drama starring Ian McShane as a lovably roguish antique dealer, was shot locally).

Either side of Melford's sprawling village green, you can visit stately homes with romantic gardens. There's Kentwell Hall - popular for its Tudor period reenactment days - and Melford Hall, a National Trust-managed Elizabethan pile where Beatrix Potter used to stay. The author's relatives owned the hall and her watercolours and drawings, and a model of Jemima Puddle-Duck, are on display.

Drive about 25 minutes north of Melford and you'll reach Bury St Edmunds. Suffolk's most desirable market town takes its name from St Edmund, an Anglo-Saxon Christian king decapitated by Vikings in 869 CE, his grave becoming a site of pilgrimage, with a vast Benedictine abbey growing around it. The abbey was dismantled after King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and its ruins now scatter public gardens with lovingly-kept lawns, flowerbeds and Bury's handsome cathedral.

Opposite the gardens, the ivy-clad Angel Hotel counts Charles Dickens among its previous guests - although he might not recognise today's stylish contemporary interiors. The Angel's restaurant is one of Bury's standout dining options, rivalling the likes of Pea Porridge, a Michelin-starred eatery where Suffolk meets the Mediterranean. Step through its pea-green door for dishes such as Suffolk rabbit kofte with grilled romana pepper, tzatziki, pomegranate and za'atar.

As well as independent fashion shops, vinyl stores and a twice-weekly open-air market (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), Bury is a boon for beer drinkers. Facing Pea Porridge is the Old Cannon, a modern microbrewery at the former St Edmund's Head pub, while the town's leading beer maker, established in 1799, is Greene King, which does tours and tastings at its vast brewery.

Greene King's creamy ales are poured at numerous Bury pubs, including The Nutshell. Measuring 4.5 x 2.1 metres, furnished with quirky memorabilia, this claims to be Britain's smallest pub. It has long been a struggle to get in, especially at busy weekends, but it now has outdoor seating too - a legacy from the pandemic, when social distancing was in vogue. Wherever you sit - or stand - the Nutshell is a cracking place to refuel and mull over the next move on your Suffolk getaway.

Read more on Explore:

1. SUDBURY. The 18th-century artist Thomas Gainsborough hailed from this market town. Visit his birthplace museum and the bucolic riverside meadows that he painted.

2. KERSEY. This tranquil one-street, one-pub village appeared in Magpie Murders, a 2022 TV crime drama adapted from Anthony Horowitz's quirky detective novel.

3. SUTTON HOO. Discovered before World War II, this remarkable Anglo-Saxon burial site contains the relics of a royal ship.

4. ICKWORTH. Flaunting a flamboyant Italianate design, this National Trust country house is on Bury St Edmund's sheep-speckled outskirts.

5. SUFFOLK COAST. Known for their colourful beach huts, fish and chips and art trails, Southwold and Aldeburgh are among Suffolk's most enticing seaside towns.

Getting there: A hire car is best for exploring Suffolk, although from London you can take the train to Bury, Ipswich and Sudbury, and connect to villages via public buses. greateranglia.co.uk

Staying there: The Angel Hotel in Bury has double rooms from about $300. theangel.co.uk

The writer travelled at his own expense.

Pictures: Shutterstock; Steve McKenna