'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Thursday 21 May 2009

Constable country



From St Mary Church in East Bergholt,  we walked along a road, down a woodland path, over a bridge and through truly familiar 'Constable country' following the Stour - a hand-dug river with a couple of locks, one of which is here at Flatford where John Constable did a number of his paintings.  


The lock at Flatford

Willie Lott's Cottage - now the Constable Museum.

We saw the lock, and the place where the dry dock used to be, also Flatford Mill and Willie Lott's cottage which now houses a museum to the painter.

  

Rowing on the Stour.

John treated us to a row up and down the river in a little boat aptly named the "Dot" ...


then we had a picnic lunch under a tree.  

Dot and the steers

Poor Dorothy is not very comfortable around cattle and needed rescuing on the way back from taking Oliver to the loo, as they (the animals) had all boldly wandered over to the picnicking side of the field.  I must say, I've never seen such fat steers! 


 Constable's shop

 N. had her first English ice cream of the trip from the village shop in Bergholt, near the tiny building where Constable had his shop (and  just down the road from the  church where John and Dot were married).


Then we were off home to get the clothes off the line and have curry for dinner.

10 comments:

  1. Ah... good old English curry?!

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  2. A delightful post. I'd love to visit that area. I went for another nice walk this morning and will blog about it shortly, but no amazing pictures really.

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  3. Looks like a 99 Flake?

    Leave it to me to comment on the food in the picture instead of all the lovely photo's!

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  4. Your pictures got me quite involved, skirting the cattle with Dorothy.

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  5. Jinksy - yep, a good English curry.
    Emily...I'll be over shortly...
    Debby! You recognise it? Are they in USA too? Or does Ian bring them over for you?
    Lakeviewer - oh, good. High praise! Thank you. You can't see him very well, but John is behind Dot, for protection from the fierce rampaging steers, and holding Oliver's hand...

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  6. All very familiar to me. I went to school in Colchester!

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :)

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  7. N. bought a pair of yummy boots (which she still wears almost daily) in Colchester, and we had our lunch sitting 'in' the moat of the castle, so we have fond memories of there!

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  8. I've had them over there. I've been to visit Ian several times. Ice cream doesn't take the 8 hour flight too well!!!

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  9. Lovely to read about an area I know quite well from my youth. What a trip!

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  10. Ah Debby, I didn't realise you'd been to England.

    Caroline- welcome to TLVD. You are welcome - I'm glad to bring back nice memories for you.

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