Constable Country | Self catering cottages

These Self Catering Cottages lie in the heart of Constable Country…

Who is John Constable?

Constable Country is named after the infamous English landscape painter John Constable. He is recognised worldwide for his paintings of the Dedham Vale amongst others of the beautiful Suffolk and Essex landscape. His most well known paintings include Dedham Vale in 1802 and The Hay Wain in 1821. These paintings are now up there with the most valuable and popular in British Art, with many of which decorated in Art Museums across the globe.

John Constable was born in East Bergholt, one of many beautiful villages on the River Stour. The River Stour runs through many picturesque villages such as Long Melford Originally, Constable went to boarding school in the medieval village of Lavenham, also home to two of our most luxurious cottages: Penny and Mint.

Highlights of Constable Country

The photos that I took myself, seen in the gallery above, are some of the beautiful scenes of the River Stour that inspired Constable to create the Flatford Mill painting. It is a perfect place to play pooh sticks with the children and has incredible views over the river across the lovely wooden bridge.

Hadleigh in Suffolk is where another one of our Constable Country cottages lies (The Old Monkey). This is another Suffolk village regularly visited by John Constable. One of his most ‘monumental’ pieces of work was that of Hadleigh Castle. The painting shows Hadleigh Castle as a “decaying, man-made structure that is succumbing to the elemental power of nature”, according to art historians Tammis Groft and Mary Mackay.

Hadleigh is located on the crossing of the River Brett, this flows from the north of the town and eventually joins the River Stour at Higham. The watersplash in the village of Kersey (north west of Hadleigh) is a stream off of the River Brett. This is one of Suffolk’s most picturesque village views and has miraculously stood still in time over the past hundred years.

So much of Constable Country today is still very similar to how it was when Constable created the incredible landscape paintings. It is the natural beauty and picturesque landscapes that inspired Constable to create the fantastic paintings that he did. The majority of Constable Country remains remarkably unchanged and still looks very much the same now to how it did back then. To see a slideshow of 339 paintings by John Constable, featured with captions on the BBC arts website.

The rolling farmland, meadows, the woodlands, local wildlife and of course the River Stour all combine to create a traditional ‘English lowland landscape’.

Cycling & Walking

Our self-catering Constable Country holiday cottages make a perfect base to explore this area and with bikes provided and local information, including walking routes and locations of local pubs, you need not worry about finding your way around the area.

Many more of our self catering cottages lie within what is now known as Constable Country, there are many walks and cycling routes right from your back door which will take you through these beautiful parts of Suffolk and Essex. See the links below for some of the walking routes that were inspired by Constable.

Constable Country at Flatford Mill – The AA

The Flatford and Constable Country Walk – The National Trust

Why not live in luxury while visiting one of our self catering cottages in Constable Country? This handpicked selection of cottages from us offers you just that. With log burning fires and big comfy sofas to cosy up on, the antique furnishings and old beamed interiors surrounding you, all combine to provide the utmost perfect, cosy atmosphere – just what is needed after a long walk exploring Constable Country.