Well in our UK tour, we decided to go to Essex and visit some family. As the weather was stunning, we decided to go to Dedham about 20min from Colchester. Dedham is a village within the borough of Colchester in northeast Essex, England, on the River Stour and the border of Essex and Suffolk. The nearest town to Dedham is the small market town of Manningtree.

Dedham is famous for being the village of John Constable. Dedham is at the heart of ‘Constable Country’ – the area of England where Constable lived and painted. Constable attended the town’s Grammar School (now the ‘Old Grammar School’ and ‘Well House’), and he would walk to school each morning alongside the River Stour from his family’s home in East Bergholt. Many of Constable’s paintings feature Dedham, including Dedham Mill, which his father owned, and Dedham Parish Church, whose massive Caen stone and flint tower is a focal point of the surrounding Dedham Vale.

Upom emtering the village, follow the car park sign. There are plenty of spaces but not suprisingly they do fill quite quickly. Aim to get there for 11am.

Then make your way to the right (opposite direction to the village) and pass the reconverted mill and on the right you will see a pub restaurant. There you can hire a boat for the hour to go along the river Stour. On a sunny day it is amazing. Once completed you can have a picnic and an ice cream by the river and do the couple of miles to the Constable house (very pretty)

The village itself is beautiful and a cream tea is waiting for you in front of the Church. A great family day

Benoit Mercier