The timber-framed pink houses of the village of Chelsworth in Suffolk break all the laws of structural engineering: windows slant one way, doors another.
Its pub, the 14th-century Peacock Inn, performs a similar balancing act — half restaurant with rooms, seducing down-from-Londoners with its Michelin Bib Gourmand, cocktails and beautifully done accommodation, and half beloved local, where regulars (and their dogs) are greeted by name and there’s always a scotch egg to be had with a Mauldons ale from down the road.
The magician who pulls off this trick is Jack Butler, surely one of the friendliest men ever to pull a pint. He’s been the Peacock’s general manager since 2021, when he was hired by the local couple who saved the pub from closure. He drew up the wine list, his wife redesigned the rooms.
The best seats in the house are two button-backed leather armchairs in the bar, opposite more of those wildly weathered beams and next to a fireplace big enough for an ox. The man who found the chairs at an antique shop and begged a lift to bring them back? Butler. He loves this place: you will, too.
37 The Street, Chelsworth, Suffolk, IP7 7HU, thepeacockchelsworth.com
