Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Constable Country

Constable Country is a very scenic area on the borders between Essex and Suffolk.

With the River Stour flowing through it, and Dedham Vale as a backdrop, this is the area forever associated with the outstanding landscape painter John Constable.

Indeed, Constable himself acknowledged that the district "made me a painter".

Dedham is the little town where Constable went to school, and whose parish church features in many of his paintings.

East Bergholt is where he was born in 1776.

Flatford is where Constable's father owned the mill, and where it and Willy Lott's Cottage receive many visitors, especially to see the scene that inspired "The Haywain".

Nayland has a parish church which houses Constable's "Christ's Blessing of the Bread and Wine".

Stoke-by-Nayland has a church whose tower he loved to paint.

Just a few miles away, and very suitable as a touring centre, is the ancient town of Colchester.