Suffolk

Suffolk is a county of great natural beauty, as well as being an important farming area. It was also, in the fifteenth century and later, another of the wool trading centres of the country and, as is usual throughout England, where trade has prospered and merchants have become wealthy, a great deal of money has been spent, in the past, on the building of fine houses andchurches. As the wool trade in the area declined, so the merchants moved away, but they left the countryside greatly enriched.

To most people it would be almost impossible to divorce the Suffolk that we see today from the county that John Constable painted and which was his home. He was born in the village of East Bergholt and spent much of his life in painting the country side which he knew and loved.

The River Stour and its locks and banks were especial favourites with him and formed the subjects of many of his most famous works. Possibly the best known of these, and certainly the one most visited by tourists is Willy Lott's Cottage at Flatford Mill. Carefully preserved, it remains almost unchanged to this day, and looks very much as it must have done to the artist when he sat down by the water with his canvas and brushes.

Suffolk still has the same lovely countryside that so inspired Constable. All that is required is someone else with high vision and ability and yet more masterpieces are there, waiting to be immortalised!

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