Inspiration of the Week: a lived-in love letter to the past in Suffolk

Please Mr Postman! Is it really too much to demand delivery of a divinely restored historic home that still bears palimpsests of its past? Happily, taking in The Old Post Office in the delightful Suffolk market town of Saxmundham, it seems not. Now for sale, this 19^th-century building – once at the very centre of local life – has been given a new lease of life, sensitively coaxed into the 21^st century in a way that honours its history.

A maisonette with a studio or shop area, this is a live/work space with bags of potential (not least in the outbuildings included in the sizeable plot). The domestic quarters – comprising a kitchen, spacious sitting room, four bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms – are upstairs and are cosy and considered, defined by a tasteful pastel palette. Meanwhile, the ground floor is a fully fitted out commercial space, accessed from the street. It’s currently being used by the owner as a lovely bright and light gallery.

The best thing about this home, however, is the way its historic features have been preserved. Outside, the sign lettering remains above the Victorian shop window; internally, in almost every room there’s an eye-catching detail that speaks of the building’s backstory. Note the exposed chimney breasts, decorative corbels and original windows, doors and floorboards. These things aren’t just on show, they’re celebrated: we love the way an unplastered patch of bare brick has been hung with an empty frame.

A postcard from heaven? We think so. And – signed, sealed, delivered – it could be yours.