Fairytale romance, wonky floorboards and a fair few ghosts; the Crooked Men of Lavenham tell us what it’s like to live in one of the world’s most photographed homes
The quaint Suffolk village of Lavenham is well-known for its scenic facades of timber-framed medieval cottages dating to its heyday as England’s richest wool town.
Wander up High Street, bypassing ancient dwellings packed cheek by jowl, to find one of the jewels in Lavenham’s crown.
Pumpkin orange and slanted at an angle that makes it hard to believe it has stood securely in the same spot since 1395, The Crooked House is hard to miss.
Legend has it the structure inspired the old English nursery rhyme, There Was a Crooked Man. “Back then, one crooked man lived here – now two do!” the owners share.
While its iconic exterior has made this one of the most-photographed houses in the world, for Alex and Oli Khalil-Martin, it’s home.
A labour of love
Originating as one wing of a medieval hall house comprising the kitchen, buttery and weaver’s workshop (where the prized Lavenham Blue cloth was made), The Crooked House has been through many different incarnations – including an art gallery, estate agents and a tea room.
It was in this guise that Alex first discovered the house in 2018 during a weekend away from London. “It was a stormy December evening and I stepped inside the tea room to warm up,” he recalls. “Immediately, I had a strong feeling of needing to live here!” He held on to that dream, and the house crept back into conversation after the world went into lockdown and Alex met future partner Oli online.
The spark was instant, and – almost as if it had been listening to the pair sharing dreams of their life together – the house came up for sale. The standard rigmarole of hopes being raised and dashed with other offers being accepted then falling through soon followed, but luck was on their side.
“We were over the moon when our offer was accepted and moved in early 2021 full of excitement. We immediately got to work – scrubbing, sanding, painting and planting – making The Crooked House our home for life and getting it ready to share.” Exactly one year after meeting online, the 600-year-old, one-bedroom house bore witness to the pair’s proposal and housed an intimate wedding soon after.
Life on the wonk
As the pair admit, living in The Crooked House is ‘a total joy, but not without a few challenges’. They quickly discovered they weren’t the only residents, sharing the space with seven friendly ghosts which Oli divulges took some getting used to.
Owing to significant restoration in the 80s, work on the house has been mostly decorative, lovingly furnishing the space with antiques and art in a conscious and tasteful way. “Our approach is to put the house first and adapt our lives to suit, rather than trying to change this ancient space to fit our modern lives.”
This does bring certain trials – such as showering every morning in the spa across the road to save installing a shower and risk damaging a special 15th-century ceiling painting in the bathroom.
Come winter, the house can also be on the chillier side.
The couple get around this with extra blankets and have even taken to wearing Tudor clothing – something which began as a joke but soon proved extremely effective.
The floors are also very slopey: “We have blocks of wood under all the furniture to keep things level, but we still roll out of bed!”
Quirky custodians
Alex and Oli’s most-asked question is how the house got its wonk.
The overriding theory is: since it was built at the height of the wool trade boom, the merchant may have wanted a grand property so fast that the timber wasn’t given enough time to dry, and the frame has subsequently twisted and contorted. “Sadly, Lavenham’s wool wealth didn’t last and as fashions changed, the wool merchants left and the village suffered centuries of poverty,” says Oli. “Without the money to rebuild, The Crooked House was left crooked, resulting in the wonderfully wonky building we know and love today.”
The structure of interlocking frames formed by these contortions make the house extremely strong.
Nevertheless, the couple are engaged in a major restoration effort to replace a concrete render installed over the back wall in the 60s.
By trapping in moisture, the concrete now threatens to rot the building’s ancient oak frame. “All our activity here is to raise funds to replace the render with a traditional lime plaster to protect The Crooked House for centuries.”
The Crooked Men take great pleasure in sharing the space, and currently host immersive events alongside selling art and gifts.
The Crooked House Story is a one-hour tour guiding guests through four historic rooms and over six centuries’ worth of stories.
Meanwhile, the couple’s black-tie dinners are sellout evenings, attracting guests from as far as the US.
A joint effort, Alex takes care of the authentic decoration, while Oli heads up the kitchen.
By so doing, the pair preserve and protect this unique space. “It’s hard to express how special this place feels to us,” they share. “Yes, it’s different from other houses; it’s not straight, it’s orange and 600 years old. But people love it because of that, and being a bit different ourselves, that’s a heartwarming thing to see.”
Follow The Crooked House’s journey and stay tuned for future events at crookedhouselavenham.com
