Peter Walker visits "Constable Country" in Suffolk (From Gazette & Herald)

Peter Walker visits "Constable Country" in Suffolk

3:45pm Thursday 1st October 2009

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I HAVE always enjoyed landscape paintings by John Constable RA, and his distinctive work has generated an area of Suffolk known as “Constable Country”.

Not surprisingly, I wanted to visit the area portrayed in his famous paintings such as The Haywain, Boat Building by Flatford Mill, The Leaping Horse, Dedham Lock, The Cornfield and others. This was the cue for a trip to Suffolk.

For our base, we selected the remarkable medieval village of Lavenham, noted for its well-preserved half-timbered buildings. Lavenham is the best-preserved medieval village in England and boasts more than 320 buildings under official protection. Some date from as early as the 14th century. All are truly astonishing with their crooked shapes, uneven floors and roofs, tilting walls and stone floors. And most are still in daily use as shops, hotels, bed-and-breakfast accommodation, public buildings or private houses.

Our hotel was such a building. It was The Swan Hotel, which has incorporated nearby cottages, and it was a dream with its low ceilings, uneven floors, creaking doors and countless oak beams. There is no doubt some of the woodwork is modern but it carefully matches the more ancient sections and we dined in a splendid medieval hall with its minstrel gallery. Two of the conference rooms were formerly the ancient Wool Hall for when it was in danger of collapse, it was preserved within The Swan Hotel.

Lavenham has many symptoms of wealth. None of its smart shops sell trashy tourist souvenirs but they do offer expensive household items and goods like tapestries, original art works, high class kitchenware and specialist teas from around the world. Many shops have a dual purpose – the post office is a book shop, the butcher’s is a delicatessen, the tea shop sells hats while a small café sells household collectibles. But there is no supermarket, no petrol station, no banks and the planners will not allow a fish-and-chip shop. Not surprisingly, Lavenham is always peaceful, clean and free from litter.

One of its attractions is the Guildhall of Corpus Christi built in 1530 as the meeting place for a guild of woolworkers. Several similar guilds (or gilds) operated in Lavenham but, in the Catholic world of that time, their function was to protect the souls of the workers rather than fight for their livelihoods. This amazing hall was built shortly before the Reformation but within 20 years, the Protestant King Edward VI abolished all the guilds because he thought they were idolatrous and superstitious. Today, the Catholics continue to celebrate Mass in the Guildhall every Wednesday, and it is now used by the National Trust with its museum, shop and tea room. It is still used for community events, too, but its lime-washed medieval timberwork is amazing.

Lavenham’s wealth came from the wool trade and in the time of Henry VIII it was one of the wealthiest towns in England. Some wool merchants were earning more than the King and its inhabitants were paying more taxes than those of cities like York and Lincoln. Although it was called a town, it is now categorised as a village.

We managed to drag ourselves away from Lavenham and found our way to Flatford upon the gently flowing River Stour. And there for all to see is the famous Willy Lott’s house that features so prominently in Constable’s painting of “The Haywain”. Little has changed since that time. The river and its distinctive and well- preserved house remain although the latter is now in private ownership. The haywain has gone.

John Constable was born in 1776 at nearby East Bergholt and attended boarding school in Lavenham but despite his father being a wealthy businessman owning mills at East Bergholt, Flatford and Dedham, the young John had no wish to join the family firm. His sole aim was to be an artist but he found it very difficult to earn a living from his art. His brother joined the family business and John was given an allowance from the profits, thus allowing him to follow his passion. He is even said to have postponed his wedding because he had not finished a painting.

And so we walked along the banks of the gentle River Stour with its timeless willow trees and clear water as we followed in Constable’s footsteps. Although Constable painted many rural scenes and several portraits, it is the landscape around Flatford and Denham that have become so closely associated with him.

Many scenes can be recognised near Flatford Mill – even his painting of boat-building can be recognised because when the National Trust acquired the nearby Bridge House, excavations on the river bank revealed the dry dock shown in his work.

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