Flatford Mill

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We had initially planned going to Flatford Mill on Thursday, 14 May. However, the weather forecast on that day wasn’t’ favourable; it was only that day the rain symbol was shown in that week. We thus changed the schedule; we decided to meet up with John & Mary and go to Flatford on Saturday, 16 May. It was raining all on 14 May and it didn’t look good.



We took the train from Liverpool Street at 11:00 and arrived at Manningtree station at 12:00. John & Mary were so kind that they picked us up at the station and took us to Flatford.



Sitting beside the River Stour and in the heart of the countryside of Dedham Vale, Flatford offers a series of beautiful landscapes, which inspired John Constable many years ago. There are historic buildings on the site – Bridge Cottage, Flatford Mill, Valley Farm and Willy Lott’s House. Together with these buildings, all of the details of the landscapes – willow trees, boats, river, wooden bridges, boat buildings and so on – have been preserved by the National Trust – which John Constable would recognise.



We had lunch at the café near the Bridge Cottage. There was a new attraction: scented garden. There were collections of scented flowers and shrubs – myriads of bumble bees and butterflies were stopping on the petals to pollinate – and it offered a therapeutic environment.

Next, John navigated us the circular walk via the riverside. We saw some abandoned willow trees lying horizontally along the river. John told us that the willow trees are top heavy so that they can fall down easily. Unlike the walks which we followed on Box Hill and Ashridge Estate, we followed the path on the flat surface. We saw a number of black & white cows and some ginger cows. They seemed to be very friendly and tame; they kept staring at us and followed us. My father-in-law, John, used to work as a farmer. He enjoyed tapping cows and tried to communicate with one of the cows. After crossing over the bridge, we followed on the gentle steep grassy path. Upon reaching the top of the hill, we overlooked the riverside and the lush countryside. Next, we found the footpath along the grazing field; there were red cows eating grass. They were big and round and looked like grizzly bears. The footpath led us to the car park of Flatford Mill.

John & Mary treated us to the cake & tea. It was a very sunny and walk in the afternoon. After the snack, we walked eastwards following the riverside, behind the Flatford Mill. Aquatic plants such as lilacs and reed plants were thriving. We found a swan lying on an egg in the nest. The footpath on which we walked would have led us to Manningtree station. We walked on the footpath from the station to Flatford Mill several years ago; we told John & Mary that it’s not far between Flatford and Manningtree station.



John & Mary took us back to Manningtree station in the late afternoon. We don’t usually change the plan once we’ve made it, but we changed this time and it worked much better than we had expected.

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