Flatford Mill
Encyclopedia
Flatford
Flatford is a small hamlet close to East Bergholt in Suffolk. It is most famous for Flatford Mill, Willy Lott's Cottage and Bridge Cottage, immortalised in the paintings of John Constable.-Access by Road:...
, East Bergholt
East Bergholt
East Bergholt is a village in the south of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. It is "twinned" with the village of Barbizon, France....
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Attached to the mill is a 17th century miller's cottage which is also Grade I listed.
The property is located in the heart of Dedham Vale
Dedham Vale
Dedham Vale is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Essex-Suffolk border in east England. It comprises the area around the River Stour between Manningtree and Bures, including the village of Dedham in Essex. It is part of the area known since the artist's lifetime as Constable...
, a typically English rural landscape.
It is noted as the location for works by John Constable
John Constable
John Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
, whose father owned the mill. Constable made the mill and its immediate surroundings the subject of many of his most famous paintings. It is the title of one of his most iconic paintings, Flatford Mill, and is in the title or the subject of several other of his largest paintings including Flatford Mill from a lock on the Stourhttp://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/CONSTABLE/Detail.cfm?IRN=143220, Flatford Mill from the lock (A water mill) and The Lock. The Hay Wain
The Hay Wain
The Hay Wain is a painting by John Constable, finished in 1821. The painting depicts a rural scene on the River Stour in Suffolk. It hangs in the National Gallery London, and is regarded as one of the greatest British paintings.-Description:...
, which features Willy Lott's Cottage
Willy Lott's Cottage
Willy Lott's Cottage is a 16th-century cottage in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England that features in John Constable's painting, The Hay Wain....
, was painted from the front of the mill. His paintings are in galleries all over the world: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, plus others in Philadelphia, London and elsewhere.
The mill is located just downstream from Bridge Cottage
Bridge Cottage
Bridge Cottage is a 16th-century thatched cottage in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. It has been a National Trust property since 1943. The National Trust market the property under the name "Flatford: Bridge Cottage"....
which, along with neighbouring Valley Farm and Willy Lott's Cottage
Willy Lott's Cottage
Willy Lott's Cottage is a 16th-century cottage in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England that features in John Constable's painting, The Hay Wain....
, are leased to the Field Studies Council
Field Studies Council
The Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK. It opened its first Field Centre in 1947 at Flatford Mill, and now operates 17 Field Centres in various locations in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland offering both residential and non-residential field courses...
, a group that uses them as locations for arts-based courses.