East Bergholt Walk

We were in Constable country and was our first Suffolk walk from the collection of walks in Suffolk which was a Christmas present from our friends Carol & Bill. East Bergholt lies to the south of Suffolk right near the border of Essex and the walk takes right to the border where the river Stow in most places separates the two counties.

Details of Walk

• Date of Walk: 05/05/2013

• Distance: 4.07 Miles

• Car Park: Near the Red Red Lion CO7 6TB

• Refreshments: Red Lion or Flatford Mill

• Photos Taken on Walk

This walk has a lot of interesting things as you will find out the first is you go past Moss Cottage which was John Constable's early studio which is now the reception for the village garage. You then leave the village and it is not long before you are looking over Stour Valley and on a lovely sunny Sunday morning in May just the views from here is well worth the walk, also you able to see the church towers of Dedham and Stratford St Mary.

We managed to miss a footpath sign and ended up walking further and had to walk along the road to Dedham to rejoin the walk the road took you to the bridge over the river Stowe and here is where we had to turn left to follow the river. on the other side of the river by the bridge on the bank is the Boathouse Restaurant where you can hire out rowing boats. We followed the river and in the meadows were cows grazing on the lush grass or down by the river bank having a drink. We finally joined the walk which we should have been on by a bridge which we crossed and carried on to Flatford Mill. Here they have a Constable expedition in Bridge cottage with prints of his paintings. All around Flatford you can see where and what he painted in real life except some of the trees are now missing, of cause the famous one that nearly everyone knows the Hay Wain taken with a horse and cart going through the water beside Willy Lott's house. This is a good place to stop for refreshments in the tearoom or outside by the river like we did and the cakes are all made on the premises.

After refreshed we headed on past the old dry dock another painting scene and past Willy Lott's house to head up hill with yet more views of the valley and in the distance we could see a train heading London bound. Finally the last interesting thing on this walk is at the end in East Bergholt in the churchyard of St Mary's where there is a Bell cage built in 1531.The bells are thought to be the heaviest five bells still being rung in England and are rung every Sunday from 9.30 -9.55 for weddings and other special occasions. The method of ringing makes them unique, they are pushed by hand rather than pulled by rope. The reason the bells were not in the tower as the building of the tower started in 1525 never was finished and nobody knows why exactly probably run out of money.

We returned to East Bergholt later in the year when my brother Martin & Eileen came over from Australia. We needed to have somewhere to go for a family day out with them and this seemed ideal as Eileen was interested in Painting and Martin being a bell ringer would be interested in the bell cage, I have wrote about the day and you will find it in the activity section.