I feel somewhat defensive in writing on any aspect of Lavender Cottage; after all, it's our house ­ temporarily. I use that word because having, with others, done some research on the house, I am very aware of its past (and, indeed, its future) owners. But more of them anon. For the moment, perhaps I could defend my position on two grounds. First, by saying that Lavender Cottage's Grade II* status on the Department of the Environment's 'List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest', as a 'sixteenth-century timber-framed and plastered house with cross-wings jettied on the first storey', relates to its interest as part of the group of old houses in the village centre ­ The Cock, Trudgetts, Manor Farm, and others. Second, by affirming that all paths seem to lead to it.

For a start, in addition to myself and Jeremy Mynott, four contributors to the volume have connections with the house: Sir John Mowbray used to live here; Adrian Taylor used to live here; David Newman tried to live here; and Dr. Burton used to work here. Other villagers have told us of their connections with the house, and the paths extend further. A former colleague of ours, Hamish McIlwrick, who has helped to get this volume produced, was visiting friends of his in Wales. He spoke of his friends in Suffolk and they said oh yes, they used to live in Suffolk; he mentioned Little Thurlow and they said, oh, it was in Little Thurlow that they had lived; he homed in on Lavender Cottage and they said, oh... The ultimate path, if I may coin a phrase, is that Jeremy's brother Simon, a skilled family historian, has discovered that one Thomas Mynott was married in Little Bradley Church in 1606, so he would have known this house. What he didn't know was that there was to be a connection between Little Bradley and what has become Lavender Cottage (see next).