Discover: Grove Farm
Discover: Grove Farm
Set in rural landscape just outside of the tiny hamlet of Priory Green, we are accessed only by a single-track lane with footpaths and fields to stroll through from our doorstep and a dog friendly pub just a couple of fields away. These cottages are the perfect place for a peaceful, rural break.
The South Suffolk Cycle Route runs right past these cottages, taking you through the most beautiful villages in Suffolk such as Boxford, Kersey and the ‘Lovejoy’ famed Long Melford with its many antique shops and the longest Medieval village high street in England. Bikes are available free of charge, the perfect way to explore these quaint little villages.
I have marked out a walker’s OS map with all of the best pubs, restaurants and village highlights to make your break easy to fill with great places to see and things to do.
There is a large car park for the guests of the Grove Farm Cottages overlooking the large orchard which is doggy exercise area or a place to relax by the pond.
I have installed a dog litter bin and a dog washing station with shampoo and fluffy white towels for your pampered pet.
And there are gardens completely around the building
There are many pretty walks straight from the cottages with both the picturesque church and our local pub being just a 15-minute walk across the fields.
Grazing Walks around Suffolks Wool Towns
Here is a great interactive map with walks and places to eat based on the local Wool Towns.
Just click the links on page 2 to get the OS Walking Map extract and recommendation for place to eat at:
Click for Grazing Walks – Wool Towns
Click here for the full list of the outstanding pubs that I recommend – it was quite a job but someone had to do it.
Our Local is called The Edwardstone White Horse and has its own microbrewery on site, it is also a CAMRA pub so has some amazing Guest Beers, it is the perfect place to take a walk to, have a drink and a snack (they do delicious home made pizzas) and walk home, thank heavens for dogs that need walks 🙂
The white horse was crowned ‘The Best Pub in Suffolk’ by The Telegraph and justly so, it is a proper pub, not an amusement arcade, sports bar, cocktail lounge or restaurant, a place where dogs, kids, walkers, cyclists and locals are welcome !!
Carry on down our tiny lane and you come to Kersey which is an enchanting tiny village, often closed off to traffic for Filming, because it has only lovely historic houses and cottages, with no street lighting. Just beside the ford (we call it The Splash) is a beautiful old pub call The Bell, it does an excellent Sunday Lunch and is the perfect stop off when doing my recommended circular bike ride or walking the footpaths round Kersey Vale and Moon valley.
On the way to Kersey you can take the second left which takes you to The Lindsey Rose, a very good dog friendly pub with good food.
Past The Lindsey Rose going up to the crossroads, if you turn right you will come to Hollow Trees Farm, an excellent Farm Shop, Deli and Butchers with a good selection of excellent local white wines. The Farm shop also has a lovely Farm Trail where kids love to go to see the animals and slide down the foxes den or swing on the tree ropes, climb on the tractors or picnic with Mum and Dad in the meadows. There is also a very good ‘child friendly’ café.
Just 10 minutes away is Polstead where the steep little hills lead down to the river Box. There are some wonderful walks here along the Pilgrims Way or explore the lovely woodland at Polstead called The Dollops, where the bluebells put on a wonderful springtime display: Polstead, The Cock Inn at Polstead is another good pub to have a drink and a snack at.
Close by is Lavenham which is England’s best preserved Medieval Village with a lovely Market Place, Guild Hall (now a wonderful National Trust local History Museum) and some great shops and art galleries. There are a number of excellent cafes, tearooms, restaurants and good food pubs. The famous Swan Inn in the High Street has a bar where American pilots wrote their names on the wall when they were station here, it also has an excellent restaurant for special occasions and a top class spar.
This is where most of the ancient houses in the Harry Potter films were filmed.
From Lavenham there is a lovely walk along the disused railway line into Long Melford, the railway line is now a Nature Reserve.
Read my blog about the best places to eat in Lavenham
There are many great country pubs close to us, some special like our own local pub just steps away: The Bell, Kersey, or down the lane The Rose Lindsey, The Crown Inn and the Angel at Stoke-by-Nayland are especially good and Michelin rated and some high quality restaurants like The Swan in Lavenham, Scutchers and The Black Lion in Long Melford, The Crown in Bildeston, The Peacock in Chelsworth and The Crown in Bildeston. See this link for a proper run down.
The nearby medieval villages of Long Melford, famed for its setting for the Lovejoys TV series, it contains many good pubs, cafes and restaurants along with lots of interesting shops and of course antique warehouses. Nayland, sitting prettily on the river Stour, and Polstead, with its bluebell woods and impressive views over the Box River valley are all close by and there are many more tiny villages with lovely walks and pubs to explore.
The Historic market Town of Hadleigh is just a 12 minute drive away and has 246 Listed buildings with some beautiful spots like the river walk circling the town, it has a market, a number of excellent butchers, two supermarkets and some great cafes and pubs like The Kings Head, Fork Kitchen, Fergussons Deli and the I V Indian Restaurant and The Royal Bengal plus two Chinese restaurants: Dynasty and Jasmine House
At the bottom of the hill from Kersey is Kersey Mill, with a diverse collection of health and beauty, arts and crafts businesses plus a café, all in a stunning, historic water mill setting.
Just 10 minutes’ drive away is Hollow Trees Farm at Semer which has a great farm trail children will love with animal encounters and a good farm shop including a great butchers and deli, you can also buy local wines here, I find that the white ones are outstanding.
Sudbury has the wonderful Gainsborough House museum, Quite a few Coffee houses in the high Street, The Quay Theatre, a lovely restaurant called The Secret Garden and some good Turkish restaraunts; Lydia in the High Street and Alaz further down near the river. The village has a market on Saturdays and Thursdays and in summer you can hire Canoes and paddle boards to explore the River Stour from The Paddle Company
This area is amazingly rural and untouched by city life, with tiny single-track lanes leading nowhere or to a pub, footpaths galore and tiny medieval villages where time seems to have stood still.
Here are some useful links for you:
The Dedham Vale and Stour Valley has many beautiful walks to enjoy through the landscape immortalised by John Constable
Art lovers will enjoy The Munnings Art Museum in Dedham, Gainsbourgh’s House in Sudbury and Flatford Mill where Constable painted The Haywain and where in Summer you can hire rowing boats and row down river to Dedham and pull up on the banks for a picnic.
The ancient woodland of Wolves Wood is just 6 miles away.
Dedham – On the River Stour, is in the heart of Constable Country. The pretty high street is lined with Georgian-fronted houses, old inns and a large Art and Crafts Centre. The best pub is The Sun Inn and at the bridge on the river (this is where you park) is The Boatyard wine bar and restaurant and where you can hire boats to row down river to Flatford Mill where Constable was born.
Dedham has a magnificent 15th century Wool Church Constable’s work The Ascension can be seen inside St Mary’s Church.
Lavenham – Nestled in the heart of the stunning Suffolk countryside, Lavenham is one of England’s finest medieval wool villages. It was the 13th wealthiest Town in England back in its heyday, but due to competition from Dutch woven products it went into heavy decline until it was rediscovered in the 1980’s before that local laws had to be passed to stop people buying lovely old timbered building just to dismantle them and rebuild them in the home counties! The charm and beauty of this Medieval village makes for a lovely afternoon out with its little winding streets, thatched cottages 320-listed timber framed buildings, National Trust Guildhall which houses a local history Museum and the beautiful Swan Inn where you can enjoy a 5 star meal in wonderful surroundings or have a drink at the bar where Airmen from America scrawled their names into the wall in the 40’s.
Long Melford – As its name implies, this wool town has a long, long High Street, populated by charming independent shops, vibrant art galleries, two antique centres, cafes, restaurants and Pubs our favourites are The Swan and The Black Lion
Orford and Orfordness – On the lovely unspoilt Suffolk Coast, Orford is a quiet, pretty village, steeped in history. famed for its local oysters and smokehouses the Butley Orford Oysterage is a treat! … and don’t miss the tremendous chocolate and baked goods of the famous Pump Street Bakery.
Orford also has a lovely little quay where you can get a ferry across the mysterious and wonderful Orford Ness Nature Reserve or book a dinner cruise trip on the Lady Florence , or just have a drink at my favourite pub the amazing Jolly Sailor where soldiers popped in for a drink while “protecting” the scientists on Orford Ness who worked on bending Radar and triggering the Atomic Bomb – you can visit these incredible ‘Pagodas’ when you are on the Ness.
Aldeburgh where you can buy fish and lobsters straight from the fishermen’s boats pulled up on the beach or visit one of the famous restaurants like The Lighthouse, Dunwich with its great fish n chips barn the Flora Tea Rooms right next to the sea , Thorpeness with its lovely boating lake and pretty houses with a 50’s fairytale atmosphere and Snape Maltings where Benjamin Britten created the famous Concert Halls and where now the whole of The Maltings have been converted into exciting design shops, cafes, restaurants, Arts Centre and antique shops, from here you can walk around the lakes to Aldeburgh and the Ness – These are gems of the unspoilt Suffolk Coast and around sixty minutes’ drive away, they make a fantastic day out, exploring the heathland, beaches, old towns and nature reserves.
Felixstowe – The sandy beaches of Felixstowe and its colourful bathing huts make it a well-loved seaside resort
Suffolk History
In Charles Dickens’s days, boys living in Scotland and here in East Anglia would be allowed to leave boarding school a day early because it took so long to get back home to those places.
Even though we are just 60 miles from London, this area was always very inaccessible and remained so until very recent times.
Now the local mainline train journey to London is a mere 45 minutes and a car journey takes about an hour and a half.
But still Suffolk has retained an unusually strong independent rural atmosphere and one of the great joys of the area are the beautiful little hamlets that even locals get lost getting to though the meandering ‘spiders web’ of tiny lanes and byroads. Many of these villages are wonderfully preserved in their medieval origins, our local village of Lavenham being a fantastic example.
The area is very rich in History from the Saxon treasure of Sutton Hoo and the rebel Queen Boadicea who defeated the Romans, right up to the many expeditions of Settlers leaving for America – in fact the First Governor of Massachusetts came from this tiny hamlet of Edwardstone when I am based at The Old Grove Farm just down the lane.
The Suffolk Landscape
The landscape and the Architectural beauty of the area has long inspired Artists to work and move here. The greatest English landscape painter John Constable painted all his famous masterpieces along the Stour which is just 5 miles from The Grove Cottages. His work undoubtedly created this landscape as the quintessential English Landscape, which is one reason why visitors to the area feel so at home.
Flatford Mill where many of Constables most well-known works of art such as ‘The Haywain’ were painted is now a National Trust area devoted to this artist and preserving his memory and the area he made so famous.
The Great Portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough lived in Sudbury which is the closest town to us, and it is a real pleasure to visit his home which is now a very interesting museum and exciting showplace for local artists and events, it also has a wonderful print making workshop where courses on all kinds of printmaking are constantly held and very much sought after.
The great artist Sir Alfred Munnings, famous for his portraits of Rural Suffolk Life lived and had his studio close to the river Stour at Dedham. This is now an interesting museum devoted to him and his works of art.
The Suffolk Coast
The unspoilt Suffolk coastline is about an hour from Kersey.
The seaside at Aldeburgh which is a totally unspoilt seaside town, famous for its Arts events and good food.
The coast starts just 30 minutes away near Colchester or Ipswich and our favourite beaches and places on the coast are between 50 – 70 minutes away, places like Pin Mill, Nacton, Levington, Orford, Aldeburgh, Dunwich, Southwold and Mersey Island.
This is an area where you can feel a million miles away from city life and really relax and enjoy just being part of.
