It pains me to say it but Suffolk is actually rather pleasant. I say that because as someone born and bred in Norfolk, I had a distaste of all things from south of the border drilled into me throughout my formative years. But all those Suffolk pink houses and sleepy towns and villages have begun to grow on me.

Bildeston is one of those villages. It came to prominence in the 15th and 16th centuries for the production of broadcloth, a strong yet soft material made from wool. It doesn’t have the wealth of interesting buildings that nearby Lavenham does but it is still very presentable. Several timber-framed listed buildings edge the main square which has a freestanding clock tower at its centre.

Unusually, Bildeston’s St Mary Magdalene church is removed from the town itself. Part of the reason is that there used to be a manor house right by the church but this has long since disappeared. The church looks very strange these days. Its bell tower collapsed in 1975 to be replaced by a very ugly structure that looks like an enormous air conditioning unit.

Close to the village square is the Crown, a mustard yellow 15th century timber-framed inn that has long held a place at the heart of the local farming industry. These days, the Crown is less of a place to go as a farm labourer to find work (although that may well continue informally in the bar) than a place for romantic couples to spend a few days relaxing and eating great food.

The Crown is owned by farmer (and Suffolk’s newly appointed High Sheriff) James Buckle, who raises red poll cattle at his farm in nearby Semer. The hotel is managed by Chris and Hayley Lee with Chris looking after the food side of operations and Hayley the front of house.

Inside the Crown, the 12 rooms are laid out in a higgledy-piggledy fashion as you would expect from such an old building. If you are tall, you’ll be ducking your head every few seconds to dodge the exposed beams.

The building underwent complete refurbishment in 2003 and the rooms have been designed by Sarah Rees, each with its own character. Room 1 has a four-poster bed and antique furniture, room 4 has an African theme while room 6 has a sleigh bed. The Fuchsia room is perhaps the most romantic for a weekend away. It is predominantly black with flashes of shocking fuchsia and has a gold bedstead with a Venetian mirrored console at its heart.

Downstairs, the inn circles a small courtyard, a great place for a glass of wine on a summer’s evening. If the weather is less clement, head inside to the cosy bar, whose teal walls are crammed with hunting ephemera and which is dominated by an enormous open fireplace. Assorted rough wooden tables and benches add to the intimacy. Somewhat incongruously, the bar itself is made from a wooden screen found in a church in Preston, Lancashire.

There’s a good selection of local ales and wine at the bar too and it was nice to see the barman offered me a chance to taste the wine before buying without prompting. If you fancy a light bite to eat, you can get snacks such as prawn cocktail sandwiches or welsh rarebit and tomato chutney on white bloomer (all £7) or fish with chips wrapped in real newspaper (I’ll decline to say which).

Over the corridor is the restaurant, undeniably the jewel in the Crown. The rich red walls and gilt framed pictures make you feel as though you are dining at the country retreat of a French monarch.

Chris Lee’s food is sensational, much of it coming from the locality. Kent-born Lee previously worked at the Windows restaurant at the Hilton Park Lane in London and at Fawsley Hall Hotel in Northants.

The beef stew comes from owner James Buckle’s Semer red polls although the waitress says the hotel is not entirely self-sufficient yet. The ‘head to toe of pork’, meanwhile, comes from a farm at nearby Nedging Tye. You get artistic morsels of belly, ear, cheek, shoulder, trotter, fillet and ham hock served with a thin shard of crackling. The attention to detail for this masterpiece is incredible. The trotter, for example, is soaked for 24 hours and the hairs removed with a blow torch before being braised in dark stock.

Times recommends

• Same flight + different airline code = £225 out of pocket
• The UK and Ireland's 25 best Christmas events
• Book 2010's best holidays now