The hotel: Dedham Hall is a cream-coloured, red-roofed manor house in
the most picturesque stretch of the Stour Valley, northeast of Colchester.
It’s an informal place where you’ll feel like a guest of old friends —
albeit friends who own a sprawling 15th-century mansion with sweeping
grounds and tranquil gardens with some of southeast England’s most bucolic
scenery on the doorstep.
On the ground floor, a warren of oak-beamed rooms, you’ll find (eventually)
the restaurant, a serene space where the food is trad British with discreet
French accents — smoked trout mousse, duck in red onion gravy, gooey lemon
tart. Upstairs are six tastefully furnished rooms, the pick of which is the
palatial “family” one, with views over the trees to the stout square tower
of St Mary’s Church. Just try not to trip over an easel on your way out —
Dedham Hall also offers residential painting courses, with a studio behind
the main house.
So it’s a green and pleasant land? Constable certainly thought
so. The painter was born and bred in these parts, and most of his famous
works depict the area; St Mary’s was a favoured subject, while The Hay Wain
was painted near Flatford Mill in 1821. From Dedham Hall, it’s a blissful
1-mile stroll through lush farmland to Flatford, following the lazy curves
of the River Stour. Or hire a rowing boat in Dedham (01296 323153) and
gently drift downstream.
The low-lying landscape is at its most magical at sunrise and sunset. Dedham
Vale has one of the lowest rainfall rates in the country, but if the weather
isn’t kind, what better place to contemplate Constable’s passion for cloud
formations?
Isn’t it heaving with sightseers? Fewer than you might think,
excepting summer weekends. The principal sights — Flatford Mill, Dedham
Grammar School (where Constable was a pupil) and his first studio (in his
birthplace, East Bergholt) — are well spread out, and the closest thing to a
Constable museum in the area is a modest National Trust exhibition in
Flatford (01206 298260).
Instead, Constable country offers gentle walks through lush lowland landscapes
punctuated by time-warp villages of half-timbered houses and genteel
Georgian facades, with plenty of “That’s me in front of The Cornfield” photo
opportunities. And pubs are in plentiful supply: best for lunch is The Angel
Inn (01206 263245), west of Dedham in Stoke-by-Nayland, a classy gastropub
specialising in sea-fresh fish.
Sounds idyllic ... Yes, but Dedham Vale is not without its dark side.
Polstead, in the western reaches, was the scene of the notorious “murder in
the Red Barn”, inspiration for a Tom Waits track: on May 18, 1827, William
Corder shot his lover and hid her body in a storehouse. It was discovered
the next April, whereupon Corder was arrested, executed and dissected. The
surgeon had an account of the trial bound in Corder’s skin.
East of Dedham, meanwhile, is Georgian Mistley, which Matthew Hopkins, the
Witchfinder General, used as a base for his reign of terror between 1645 and
his death in 1647. Scores of women were executed as witches on Hopkins’s
say-so; perhaps not coincidentally, he earned 20 shillings a conviction.
His HQ, the Thorn Hotel (01206 392821), is now a pub with rooms, though think
twice before you spend a night in these parts: his ghost has been spotted on
several occasions.
I prefer more natural haunts. If twitchcraft is your thing, the RSPB
reserve near Wrabness (01767 680551), above the Stour estuary, is one of the
best sites in the country for watching waders. And Manningtree is home to
one of England’s largest swan populations.
The countryside’s gorgeous: now what about the paintings? For a
good overview of Constable’s art, head for the smoke. In London, Tate
Britain (020 7887 8000) is showing the exhibition Constable to Delacroix:
British Art and the French Romantics until May 11. But Constable believed
nature should be seen at source, so he’d doubtless have been horrified by
the idea of people puttering about in a museum instead of enjoying his
beloved landscape at first hand.
Who should go? Art-lovers, bird-watchers, latter-day swains.
Who shouldn’t go? Supercool Shoreditch types.
Dedham Hall (01206 323027,www.dedhamhall.demon.co.uk):
doubles £80 a night, B&B, or £120 with three-course dinner for two
