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Tostock, Suffolk, England
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| In 1992 we house sat this home, Sandlappers, for a month while Lionel and Margaret Grooms were in Australia. It's in the little picturesque village of Tostock. We've only been to Tostock briefly since, but this time we stayed for a few days. | It was so nice to look out the bedroom window at a country yard. |
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| Lionel mows the lawn. After weeks of travel hither and thither, it felt good to rest in a country home. | We've spent so much time at this bus stand, they could charge us rent. We've taken the local buses everywhere they go, I think. |
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| The magnificent chestnut tree on the Tostock village green has figured in both of my books. It's another "favorite place." | Tostock's "main street." The village green, with the village sign, is on the right. |
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You are now in Tostock.
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This view of the green is from the village pub, The Gardeners Arms. |
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| The pub had a new sign since last we were in Tostock. | The pub had hardly changed, either. It was like coming home. |
| Day trip from Tostock: Flatford and Suffolk Villages, England | |
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| Lionel and Margaret took us to Flatford, the home of John Constable (1776-1837). The canal, locks, and nearby buildings have hardly changed from Constable's days. | Flatford Mill has been refurbished, but is otherwise much as it appears in Constable's paintings. It is now a school for creative arts. |
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| John Constable's most popular painting is The Hay Wain. Compare it to the photo at right that I took near the same spot. Willie Lott's cottage looks the same now as it did then. | People no longer ford the river here, so water grasses and algae have moved in. |
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| Willie Lott was a mill hand who lived in this cottage his whole life. It is now used as lodging for students at the art school. An art school painter works outside the cottage. | Doors and windows tend to go askew over a couple of hundred years, but the cottage is still sound. |
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| The Bridge House is now a gift shop and tea room... | and during a sudden rain shower, we drank tea. |
