The Sound of Music at Thaxted

Thaxted must be one of Essex's prettiest villages, the sort you would expect to find gracing the top of a chocolate box, with its picturesque windmill, delightful thatched houses and a guildhall dating back to the 13th century. Perhaps this is what attracted composer and musician Gustav Holst (1874-1934) to the village. The young Gustav stayed overnight in Thaxted in 1913 during a five-day winter walking holiday in north west Essex, little knowing that a few years later he would come here to live.

Home for the composer, his wife and their daughter was, at first, a 17th-century thatched cottage. From here there were views across meadows and willow trees to the magnificent spire of St John the Baptist church in the village and this view, coupled with tranquillity and solitude, provided the inspiration for his work, The Planets Suite (1914-16).

Holst was born in Cheltenham to a father who came from the Baltic port of Riga. When he came to Thaxted he was known as Gustav von Holst, a name which at first aroused suspicion amongst the villagers who couldn't understand what motivated this stranger to walk alone, for so long and so far. On this walk you will enjoy panoramas of rolling countryside and big skies, and see the soaring spire of the church, visible for miles around, and perhaps experience similar feelings of liberation and solitude as the young Gustav whose genius was to make him one of our greatest composers.

Holst became great friends with the local vicar, the socialist Father Conrad Noel, a colourful and controversial character who called him 'Our Mr Von'. Noel upset the villagers one day in 1921 by hoisting Sinn Fein and communist red flags above the church. To add fuel to the fire he deliberately omitted hoisting the Union Jack believing it to be a flag of imperialist oppression. Angry Cambridge students tore down the flags and replaced them with the Union Jack, an act which drove the vicar quite wild. A pitched battle ensued with Noel and his followers slashing the tyres of the demonstrators' cars and motorbikes until order was fully restored by the church authorities.

In calmer times Holst played the church organ, helped local singers and brought London students to the parish church where they sang Bach cantatas and Byrd's Mass for Three Voices. At Christmas he sang carols and invited the choir to his home at the Manse in Town Street, where a plaque commemorates his residence here from 1917 to 1925. Holst died in 1934 and today he is remembered with a month-long summer music festival in Thaxted, which attracts performers worldwide.

What to look for

Look for the pargetted and timber-framed houses lining Town Street. Local builders became accomplished in the art of pargetting, a decorative skill introduced by Italian craftsmen during Henry VIII's reign. This involved the moulding and marking of plaster to give the exterior of a house an attractive finish. Thaxted's houses are adorned with many different motifs and figures.

While you're there

Visit John Webb's Windmill at the back of the churchyard. This lovely mill (1804) is the largest of all the windmills which once graced Thaxted. Made from local brick it was rescued from ruin in 1970 and is still undergoing restoration. Call at the small museum, if it is open, to see the wide range of exhibits highlighting Thaxted's agricultural history.

Where to eat and drink

Several traditional English tea shops can be found in Town Street. For more substantial fodder try the Swan Hotel, a former coaching inn, where you can get a good selection of traditional ales, ideal for washing down a hearty ploughman's lunch and finish with a giant portion of apple strudel or death by chocolate, served with lashings of custard or cream.