The Hay Wain

You may recognise the scene of John Constable's painting of 1821. The building you can see is known as Willie Lott's Cottage, named after the tenant farmer who lived there in the early 1800s. He apparently never left the house for more than 4 days in his whole life.

You can find this at Flatford Mill in Suffolk (the mill itself is behind me). The level of the water in the picture has risen about a foot in the last two centuries due to East Anglia gradually sinking into the North Sea. If you look at the original Hay Wain, you'll also notice that the trees have changed considerably on the right. Constable would have been able to see over the River Stour and over Dedham Vale from his father's mill, yet today, the view is obscured by the new line of trees.

Both our journalist friends who have been staying with us enjoyed the visit. P had been there when she was a child, on a school trip, but it was a first time for S and he had lots of fun with his new camera!

I remember popping up here a few years back only to find the place swarming with BBC cameramen as they were doing one of Rolf Harris's live giant painting programmes from Flatford and Trafalgar Square. Bit quieter there today.