Stour Valley and Dedham Vale Walk
Dedham, Essex CO7 6DH
This easy seven-mile walk takes in some of the best of what has become known as Constable Country, an area on the Essex-Suffolk borders around the river Stour where the 18th century landscape painter lived and worked, and still home to a handful of his paintings and indeed a few of the landscapes that he painted. Constable went to school in there picturesque Essex village of Dedham, where this walk starts – right on the river which forms the border between the two counties. It's a beautiful spot, of meadows and woodlands, and fields of grazing cattle, and the path follows the river through the Dadham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural beauty to Flatford Mill, the scene of one of his most famous paintings, home to a National Trust tea room and shop, and beyond, before circling back to Dedham and its array of pubs, shops and restaurants.
