Suffolk Leasing

Did You Know?

Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east.

Suffolk has its own breed of horse, Suffolk Punch horses are chesnut in colour, gentle and hardworking in nature, and very stocky, hence the ‘Punch’ in their name. They were bred as draught horses, and their existence dates back to at least 1506. Amazingly, the male line of Suffolk Punches can be traced back to just one stallion!

Samuel Morton Peto, who bought Somerleyton Hall in 1844, was a partner in Peto and Betts, the building firm that built the Houses of Parliament in 1840, Trafalgar Square in 1841 and Nelson’s Column in 1843.

The medieval village of Lavenham in Suffolk was the inspiration for Harry Potter’s fictional birthplace, Godric’s Hollow, and its magical streets feature in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2. You can even spend a week in the Potters’ cottage (known to muggles as De Vere House), which is a cosy, historic holiday home.

The Port of Felixstowe is Britain’s largest and busiest container port. Britain’s first container terminal was created there in 1967. In 2011, it became the first UK port capable of accommodating the next generation of giant container ships.

Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a Tyke from Yorkshire and a Yellowbelly from Lincolnshire; the traditional nickname for people from Suffolk is 'Suffolk Fair-Maids', or 'Silly Suffolk', referring respectively to the supposed beauty of its female inhabitants in the Middle Ages.

In the east of the county is Sutton Hoo, the site of one of England's most significant Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds, a ship burial containing a collection of treasures including a Sword of State, gold and silver bowls, and jewellery and a lyre.

In his youth, Eric Arthur Blair spent several summers at his parents’ house in Southwold, Suffolk. From that beautiful coastal town he went on long voyages through the surrounding countryside, now designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The place that he loved the most was the River Orwell, a picturesque waterway where yachts sail and flocks of wading birds line the banks. He loved it so much that when he came to publishing his first book in 1933, the author’s name on its spine read not ‘Eric Arthur Blair,’ but ‘George Orwell.’