Suffolk. West - James Bettley

From small timber-framed houses to sprawling manors, this comprehensive guide to west Suffolk presents an impressive range of buildings from across the centuries. At its center lies the town of Bury St. Edmunds, site of one of Norman England's most powerful abbeys, whose monolithic gates remain as a local landmark. Other towns boast impressive architecture as well, including Newmarket, where the racetrack and other unique structures support its role as a historic and international center for horse breeding and racing. Also attesting to the remarkable variation of west Suffolk's buildings are a number of impressively grand residences, such as the fine Elizabethan manors of Long Melford, Majarajah Duleep Singh's palace at Elveden, and the extraordinary circular mansion of Ickworth.