The Dedham Vale:  Essential Information when visiting England, especially from abroad

Constable Country is rural England at its most beautiful.  It straddles the area of  north Essex and south Suffolk in the River Stour Valley, a landscape immortalised by the English painter John Constable. The scenes depicted on many of his famous canvasses like  'Flatford Mill' and the 'Hay Wain' are still recognisable today

The Dedham Vale is the center of Constable Country  and it is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Dedham, its  focal point,  still retains the timeless beauty which captured  the imagination of England's most famous landscape painter. Sitting astride  the Suffolk-Essex border, the Dedham Vale is an exceptional example of a lowland river valley.  Undulating slopes fall gently to the slow-flowing, meandering River Stour and in its hedged water meadows, copses and riverbank willows, the landscape is perhaps the epitome of the farmed English countryside. It has an extraordinary range of different features - rolling fields, lush and sheltered valley-floor meadows, open marshes and intimate tributary valleys.Flatford Mill and picturesque Dedham have somehow managed to retain their unspoilt quality.

This makes Dedham the perfect place to get away from the hustle and bustle of  city life yand yet you can  easily get to London. From the local station ( 10 mins drive)  the journey takes less than one hour . Alternatively you can drive to Dedham by car. While a car is not  necessary to enjoy a relaxing stay in the village,  it is advisable if you wish to make outings  to other villages and to the many tourist attractions nearby. Suffolk and Essex are noted for their fine medieval churches, charming hamlets with well-preserved colour washed timber  framed buildings, ancient inns, ancient market towns and beautiful country 
walks. Car hire is available in most towns and at Stansted Airport.

Renting the Tallow Factory in Dedham, Constable Country,  provides a good base for touring East Anglia - everywhere in East Anglia is possible for a day trip including the ancient university city of Cambridge with it many beautiful colleges.  Visit  the Suffolk coastline, stately homes, villages with buildings dating back to the 14th century, visit antique shops and fairs and discover what it really means to be English.