Two men are helping to share the story of their unusual house with the release of an unusual calendar.
Alex and Oli Khalil-Martin moved into the Crooked House in Lavenham, four years ago, after they met online and fell in love.
Right from the start, their aim was not just to live in the house but to share and preserve its history with the public.
Oli and Alex Khalil-Martin
The pair, who have since married, now invite people into their home for tours, supper clubs and black tie dinners. The events all focus on the history and remarkable story of the house, believed to have inspired the nursery rhyme There was a Crooked Man.
The couple have now released the Crooked Men 2025 calendar to help them in their mission. The Tudor clothes they wear for the calendar are also helping them to keep warm, as they embrace the Tudor lifestyle.
Alex said: “As husbands living here, we joke that The Crooked House is now home to two Crooked Men, not one. We’re loving finding fun ways to share the 600-year story of our wonderfully wonky home with everyone.
The Crooked House in Lavenham
“When we moved here in 2021, living in a 600-year-old house took a bit of adjusting to. But rather than try to make this ancient house ‘modern’, we instead leaned into its history – even buying Tudor costumes to keep warm.
“Since then, we’ve embraced a more ‘Crooked life’ here and our Tudor costumes help us tell the story of The Crooked House with visitors in a fun and entertaining way.”
The costumes were made especially for Alex and Oli by historical seamstress, Juliet Braidwood.
They are the clothes of the wool merchants who would have owned The Crooked House, when Lavenham was the richest wool town in England.
Alex Khalil-Martin
Alex added: “Fashions of course change over time, so we needed to choose a specific date for our costumes, to ensure historical accuracy.
“We chose the year 1578, which is when Queen Elizabeth made her Royal Progress of East Anglia tour and would have been travelling through Suffolk.
“Our costumes are what the wool merchants at The Crooked House would have been wearing at the time.
Alex and Oli Khalil-Martin
“Everything we do here at The Crooked House is about sharing the story of our 600 year-old home and engaging as many people as possible with its history.
“We host theatrical house tours, black tie dinners here – inviting guests to dine with us in our candlelit home and discover its remarkable history.
“In looking for even more ways to share The Crooked House, we thought: We’ve got the costumes, why not do a calendar too?
“It’s really just a bit of fun and tongue-in-cheek, but it’s proven very popular.”
Oil Khalil-Martin
The Crooked Men 2025 Calendar was shot by Jim Davidson, who lives nearby and was also their wedding photographer. It was printed by The Lavenham Press.
The calendar, which costs £20, features photos of Alex and Oli in The Crooked House and around the village itself.
It costs £20, with free UK postage from the Crooked House website.
All sales support the restoration and preservation of The Crooked House.