Behind its Georgian front, the timber-framed Great House is as old as its neighbours in this former medieval wool town. Run as a restaurant-with-rooms since 2018 for Dominique Tropeano, owner of Colchester Zoo, it happily retains the French ambience created by former owners the Crépys. Our inspectors in 2019 received ‘an impeccable welcome from a young member of staff’. Their room, Bastille, was ‘lovely, with separate sitting area, minibar, tiny TV’. Welcoming touches include a decanter of sherry. Bastille has an oak bed; Élysée, overlooking the market square, two king-size beds, velvet chaises longues. Bohème, under the eaves, is indeed petite, with cubbyhole bathroom. ‘Mind-your-head beams are everywhere.’ For the convivial, there is a small bar and some outside seating. In the dining room, at feeding time on a Friday night, ‘every table was taken’. Guillaume Dericq combines local ingredients with Gallic flair to create dishes like roasted saddle of Suffolk venison, parsnip and parsley root mash, juniper sauce. ‘Turbot, oddly, was lukewarm, though the plate was hot, and it tasted nice.’ Service was slow, the staff were ‘a bit harassed’. Breakfast brings ‘very good croissants’.