Suffolk’s Constable Country (the history and art)
If you grew up with a painting of ‘The Hay Wain‘ on your living room wall, it was painted here. John Constable grew up here, and featured Suffolk countryside in many of his paintings.
Flatford Mill
This is a historic Grade II listed watermill built in 1733, now owned by the National Trust. The cottage seen in the Hay Wain painting sits next to the mill on the River Stour.
Dedham Vale (a national landscape)
This is now a National Landscape (the new name for an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty). Also on the River Stour, it’s home to historic villages and rare wildlife like otters, water voles and stag beetles.
Always follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Keep dogs away from steep banks, mushrooms (and toxic plants/trees) and on leads near birds, barnyard friends and wild ponies.
Who was painter John Constable?
John Constable had deep affection for the landscape of his home, writing ‘I should paint my own places best: painting with me is but another word for feeling.
As a child, he attended school in Dedham, so walked from his home in East Bergholt along the River Stour, which later became the scene, for many of his paintings.
Just like Van Gogh, Constable sold very few paintings in his lifetime (although he had more success in France, winning a gold medal for his Hay Wain painting).
Today ‘Constable Country’ is a designated National Landscape (the new name for an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. So here’s hoping the buildings and landscape will never be turned into blocks of flats. The National Trust owns Flatford Mill, and there is also an RSPB nature reserve nearby.
Painter Sir Alfred Munnings also lived here (his home is now a museum). The beautiful church was built from the wealth of the cloth industry, and today the village street is still lined with Georgian houses and old inns.
History behind ‘The Hay Wain’
When Constable painted what was voted Britain’s second-favourite painting, it did not sell! But many of us grew up with a copy of it on our living room wall.
The house is Willy Lott’s Cottage (Willy was a farmer who inherited the estate and lived there all his life, save one or two nights away). He never married, he lived with his sister, and died age 88.
Can you guess what Britain’s favourite painting is? If you thought ‘sunflowers’, you’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the lesser-known J.M.W Turner’s painting The Fighting Temeraire. Third was Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
