Cocoon the size of my head!!!!

[JRsbugs]

I would just leave it alone, no need for pest control as it hasn't been any bother. As posie says, there might be a queen in there overwintering, the rest of the colony would have died by winter.

Wasps are no trouble if they are not troubling you, I like them and they don't bother me. I stand near them while they feed on Ivy in the autumn, taking their pics, they don't bother me. They do catch flies to feed their young.

Is there a good reason to remove the nest? It can't be any problem where it is.

[Dogghound]

I agree this is Vespula vulgaris. However it its last years nest so if you keep it or remove it, it does not matter. Wasps dont re-use their old nests so it wont become active, and I have never heard of queens wintering in old nests although I guess its possible as it provides shelter. Most disperse from the nest and hibernate in cracks, gaps, under logs etc.

[Miss Potter]

Too late now! My Dad had already removed it.
Don't really like the idea of having a nest like that in the house.
Its lighter than i thought, and its brown, kind of woody coloured.

[Africa]

Funny you should compare it to your head. It is not the first time it has happened, Tim Dowling in one of his funniests Guardian columns did it.:
"Shining my bicycle light into the cavity under the rafters, I see what looks like a bleached, severed head with wasps on it." click here if you want to read it.