Woottens Nursery

Woottens Nursery is just down the road from The Wenhaston Star. We highly recommend a visit! 

Woottens is open throughout the year from 9.30am - 5pm seven days a week.

You may like to visit their special Display Garden, which is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9.30am - 5pm from the 1st April to the 30th September.

Woottens have two special fields the Bearded Iris Field - over two acres of scent and colour - is open for viewing from the 29th May to the 13th June and the Hemerocallis Field - over an acre of spiders and unusual forms, selfs, and edges - is open for the second and third weekends in July.

Their main specialities are Auriculas, Hemerocallis, Irises and Pelargoniums.
 

So take a visit after your pint! 

Where to Stay in and around Wenhaston

There are all sorts of places to stay in and around Wenhaston (close to Southwold on the Suffolk Coast).

There are self catering cottages and bed and breakfast houses and farms as well as a range of Inns and Hotels in Halesworth, Walberswick and the local area.

So if you are looking for somewhere to stay on the Suffolk Coast check these out!

We recommend a few: 

Cowshed Holidays
Wissett Lodge   
Valley Farm, Holton 
Threshers Hall 
Troy Bed and Breakfast
The Ridge
Sandpit Farm
Poplar Hall
Park Farm Bed & Breakfast
Number 49
North Manor Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast
Newlands
Moat House Farm 
Maypole Barn Bed and Breakfast 
Kelsale Place Bed and Breakfast
Home at 21 North Parade 
Brights Farm Bed & Breakfast


And while you stay don't forget to visit us at the Wenhaston Star! 

The history of Wenhaston, Suffolk

Wenhaston is a village in Suffolk (a sub-district of the Blythe Valley.)

The village stands 2¾ miles South East of Halesworth. The parish includes Mells hamlet, and comprises 2,196 acres. There are around village of 818 people who live in Wenhaston.

Roman coins, pottery and building materials unearthed in local fields indicate the existence of a settlement at Wenhaston from the 1st century AD, and indeed this was probably a market of some importance between 80 and 350 AD.

The first written record of its existence is to be found in the Domesday survey of 1086, when it was noted that the village of Wenadestuna possessed a mill, a church and woodland sufficient to feed 16 hogs.

The village's greatest historical treasure is undoubtedly the Wenhaston Doom, a 16th century (pre-Reformation) panel painting depicting the Last Day of Judgment. This rare work of art was discovered during restoration work in 1892, hidden under whitewash on the wooden tympanum taken down from above the chancel arch.

Today, the local community and economy of Wenhaston continues to benefit from its proximity to the Suffolk Heritage Coast and the flourishing resort town of Southwold. Wenhaston won the Suffolk Coastal Village of the Year 2004 competition and came second in the Suffolk County competition.


The church is good; and there are a Wesleyan chapel.

Top ten things to do in Suffolk

These are our recommended things to do whilst visiting Suffolk:

10/ Bury St Edmunds Abbey Gardens

9/ Framlingham Castle

8/ Helmingham Hall Summer Events

7/ Easton Farm Park

6/ Melford Hall

5/ Latitude

4/ The Swan at Lavenham

3/ Fleet - Art in the Haven Ports

2/ National Horse Racing Museum

1/ Newmarket Nights

The best bar chat up lines... and answers!

Here are some of our favourite chat up lines we have heard in a few food and drink establishments...


10. Line: Are you tired? Because you've been running around my mind all day.

Answer: If I had the choice I wouldn't of been.I don't actually believe that people would use that, I could be wrong though!


9. Line: Is that a ladder in your tights or a stairway to heaven.

Answer: It's a ladder and thanks for pointing it out.Why, why, why?

8. Line: Did it hurt? ["What?"] When you fell from heaven!

Answer: *shakes head and rolls eyes, then walks away*

This is a classic, I think anybody that uses this is just too desperate and trying far to hard. There are lots of variations on this including "Somebody tell God he's missing an angel", "Is it a day off in heaven today" and "What time do you have to be back in heaven". All very poor.

7. Line: So, do you come here often?

Answer: Yes, thanks.I don't actually think this is as bad as some of the others.

I think it's mean to be more of a conversation starter than a chat up line, a bit like "the weather's been nice recently". Despite this I wouldn't even recommend it as a conversation starter, I think it just makes the whole situation awkward.

6. Line: Get your coat love, you've pulled.

Answer: It's a shame you haven't then.

The alternative answer is "I haven't got a coat", but would normally result in a reply of "even better lets go!" Somebody tried to use a variation of this on one of my friends in a club, which was "What's your cloakroom number, you've pulled". As my friend was slightly drunk and didn't have a coat in the cloakroom, she just ended up getting really confused and the line didn't pay off.

5. Line: If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together.

Answer: Maybe it's a good job you can't then.I think this is cheesy, but a kind of sweet cheesy, (only kind of though!), I can't say it would wow me.

4. Line: Do you work at Kentucky Fried Chicken? ["No, why?"] Because you're finger lickin' good!

Answer: * stunned silence*Surely people don't use that anymore.

I remember the boys used to use this one on the girls up at primary school, and we weren't impressed by it then, so the odds are we're not going to be now!


3. Line: Do you believe in love at first sight or do I have to walk by you again?"

Answer: How about you just keep walking.

That's pure mature cheddar. I think if anyone ever said that to me I would just be shocked that people actually use it seriously and it's not just a joke.

2. Line: I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?

Answer: No. How is that going to help find yours?

And how can you loose your own phone number anyway?Another classic. The answer I put is an example of a negative response, but I can imagine this actually sometimes works. Just be aware you might get given the wrong number.

1. Line: Is your name Gillette? ...because you're the best a man can get.

Answer: No it's not, and before you ask it's not my middle name either.

This has actually been used on me, I assume the guy was joking, (well I hope he was because I laughed at him!), and if he wasn't I am very worried. This has got to be the cheesiest line I've heard, but it does make me laugh every time I think of this lad saying it!

Our food and drink menu

At The Wenhaston Star we take pride in our food and drink selections, trying our very best to source local produce... as close to home as possible.

A range of food items are available from our bars and restaurant area. This includes local meat, eggs and alcohol selections. 


Here are ten reasons it is good to eat from local sources:

1. It is good for our economy
2. The food is fresh
3. It is better for air quality than eating organic (less pollution)
4. It tastes better
5. Take longer to ripen
6. Keeps us up to season
7. Protects us from bio-terroism
8. Contains a story
9. More variey
10. Protects local land resources.

So these ten reasons should get your tastebuds going! Come and see us and try our locally sourced pub grub!

History of the pub

Alcohol has been drunk and served throughout the British Isles in one form or another since the Bronze Age. However, the origins of what we may now recognise as the pub began to appear during the Roman colonisation of Britain, as places where travellers could obtain rest and refreshment sprang up along the new road networks.

These Roman taverns remained even after the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain. During the Middle Ages the pub sign came into existence – the earliest versions being green bushes set upon poles to indicate the sale of beer, stemming from the earlier Roman tradition of vines being displayed to advertise wine. By the fourteenth century, more abstract names were common, as evidenced by Chaucer’s description of the Tabard Inn in Southwark. The ‘Hostellers of London’ were granted guild status in 1446, showing that these medieval inns and hostelries were important in continuing the practice of offering rest and refreshment to travellers.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these establishments primarily sold beer and ale, until the first half of the eighteenth century when the so-called ‘Gin Craze’ took hold, especially amongst the poorer classes as the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer. The 1751 Gin Act forced gin makers to sell only to licensed premises and put drinking establishments under the control of local magistrates.

During the 19th Century the Wine and Beerhouse Act was introduced to restrict the hours Public Houses could sell alcohol. This was further compounded by the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 which set the 11pm limit on the sale of alcohol throughout the twentieth century. The Licensing Act 2003 repealed the previous licensing laws for England and Wales, taking responsibility away from magistrates and placing it in the hands of local councils.