River Stour Boating

These two images feature the River Stour, in that beautiful part of the country where Essex and Suffolk meet. Dedham Vale (an AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) has gorgeous, famous and typically English landscapes, with rolling farmland and quaint old buildings. The two photos I am posting today show the aquatic charms of the River however. There is a long history of navigation on the River Stour, and boats have been used to transport all sorts of goods from bricks heading to London through to sewage heading out to the fields of Suffolk! They can also transport itinerant photographers. The picture above, "On the Stour", shows a boats-eye view of the riverine landscape, including twisted, pollarded Willow trees. The picture below, "The Boating Alphabet", depicts a landscape of boats awaiting use outside the old Granary building (with Flatford Mill glimpsed through the trees in the background).