Hotel details:
We stay four nights on a half board basis at the 4* Stoke by Nayland Hotel (www.stokebynayland.com) on the outskirts of Leavenheath. Located in a countryside setting and 10 miles from the centre of Colchester, facilities at the hotel include a restaurant, bar, indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna, steam room and a Jacuzzi. All rooms are en suite and feature television, telephone, hairdryer, and tea & coffee making facilities.
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What we will see
Kentwell Hall
Christchurch Mansion
Constable Country – East Bergholt, Dedham & Bridge Cottage
Sutton Hoo
Aldeburgh
The Red House
Gainsborough’s House
Melford Hall
Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford
Lavenham
Beth Chatto Gardens
Details
Day 1
We meet our private executive coach at our designated pick up points. En route to our hotel we visit Kentwell Hall, a very much lived in and loved family home for over five hundred years. Representing an interesting mix of styles The Great Hall and the Dining Room emphasise their Tudor origins while the Library and the Drawing Room are classical in style. We continue to the 4* Stoke by Nayland Hotel on the outskirts of Leavenheath for a four night stay on a half board basis.
Day 2
Our Blue Badge guide meets us at our hotel this morning and accompanies us throughout the day. We firstly visit Christchurch Mansion for a guided tour, a fine Tudor building set in an ancient and beautiful park close to the centre of Ipswich. With historic room settings, outstanding paintings and furniture, and the modern Wolsey Art Gallery with changing contemporary exhibitions, it is one of the most important visitor attractions in East Anglia. We continue to Constable Country, located on the Suffolk and Essex border and renowned as the birthplace of artist John Constable. Our guided tour of East Bergholt takes in sights such as John Constable’s Studio and St Mary’s Church, built in the 15th and 16th centuries and renowned for the absence of a tower or spire to house the bells. We continue to Dedham where our guided tour takes in sights such as Constable’s School and Dedham Parish Church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin in 1492 when the present building was begun. We finally visit the National Trust’s Bridge Cottage at Flatford. Located upstream from Flatford Mill, Bridge Cottage houses an exhibition on John Constable, several of whose paintings famously feature this property.
Day 3
With our Blue Badge guide this morning we visit the National Trust’s Sutton Hoo, an Anglo Saxon royal burial site where the priceless Sutton Hoo treasure was discovered in a huge ship grave in 1939. This afternoon we visit the picturesque 16th century fishing village of Aldeburgh. Here we visit The Red House, where Britten and Pears lived and worked from 1957 until their deaths. The Gallery features an engaging permanent exhibition that introduces visitors of all ages to Britten and his music, and the interiors of the House have been presented as they were in the mid-1960s, as has the historic Library room.
Day 4
This morning we visit Gainsborough’s House at Sudbury, where we enjoy a guided tour on arrival. The house dates back to the 16th century and was the birthplace of the famous painter, Thomas Gainsborough. The outstanding art collection is shown together with 18th century furniture and displays more of Gainsborough’s work than any other gallery. We continue with our Blue Badge guide to the National Trust’s Melford Hall, one of East Anglia’s most celebrated Elizabethan houses, and where little has changed externally since 1578. The garden contains some spectacular specimen trees and a charming banqueting house. Later this afternoon we visit Holy Trinity Church at Long Melford. One of the great Suffolk wool churches, it is widely acknowledged to be one of the most magnificent parish churches in the country. In his widely acclaimed book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’, Simon Jenkins awards just 18 churches a 5* rating, with Holy Trinity Long Melford being one of these. The rest of the day is at leisure in Lavenham.
Day 5
After checking out of our hotel and en route home we visit Beth Chatto Gardens. Begun in 1960 from an overgrown wasteland with poor gravel soil and boggy hollows, it has been transformed into an informal garden harmonising with the surrounding countryside. We then return back to our original pick up points.
NB: Please note we reserve the right to alter the above itinerary if required for operational reasons. Given the historic nature of the places visited, a certain degree of walking will be involved, and this holiday may not be suitable for those with mobility problems. Price based on twin share. Minimum numbers required. Normal booking conditions apply.