Swan House

Swan House stands on New Market in the centre of Beccles, in a timber-framed building with origins recorded as early as 1540, when a tenement here was taxed as a tavern. It operated as a coaching inn by the eighteenth century, becoming the White Swan by 1766, then passed through spells as a tea room and gift shop before reopening as a restaurant in 1993. Graphic designer Roland Blunk, who bought the building in 1985, converted the upper floor into five guest rooms in 2012, each named for a past resident of the house, including Jeremiah, recorded living there in 1826. Blunk designed the interiors and commissioned the hand-built furniture from local craftsman David Paton. Rooms are let on a room-only basis, with a restaurant serving on the ground floor and outdoor tables on the pavement in summer.