Gardens, Castles & Constable

Start the day with a short train ride to Needham Market (you can leave your luggage for collection), or drive to Needham Market if you have your vehicle with you. Here, you’ll pick up your bikes and cycle out along pretty Suffolk lanes to the village of Thornham Magna, where you can see the recently restored walled garden before visiting the adorable thatched, pre-Conquest church at nearby Thornham Parva wiht its amazing early medieval wall paintings and treasure of an reredos. On across England’s largest village green (stretching over 2 miles) at Mellis, then over the Norfolk border to Bressingham, famous for its landscaped gardens and superb displays of herbaceous plants and heathers. You can stroll through the gardens or see them from the narrow gauge steam railways, part of the fascinating railway and steam museum. Your accommodation for the night is at an undiscovered historic town of two halves near Diss.

Mileage: Rec 31 Min 26 Max 38

First stop is the wonderfully atmospheric museum housed in the former control tower of a WWII American airbase. Step further back in time in the wonderfully historic village of Wingfield, home to a magnificent medieval great hall in the Old College by the church. Find out more about the powerful families who lived here and see their tombs inside the church, including a prominent Plantagenet – or pop across for a drink at the pub across the lane. Then on to the beautifully restored post mill at Saxtead Green, before arriving at your night’s stop in the market town of Framlingham. Explore the 12th century castle by foot or take a short bike ride to Shawsgate Vineyard.

Mileage: Rec 31 Min 25 Max 33

Visit vineyards where you can taste Suffolk wine and cycle on to Snape Maltings where the Aldeburgh Festival concert hall sits among the little arts community on the banks of the river Alde. Those with plenty of energy left can continue on the recommended route to both Orford, with its impressive castle keep, quaint quayside and boat trips, and Shingle Street, a quiet spot where the River Ore meets the sea. Mere mortals can amend their route to exclude one or other, bringing the mileages down to 28 and 30 miles respectively. Just outside the lovely maritime town of Woodbridge where you stop for the night, you can visit the site of the rich Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo.

Mileage: Rec 39 Min 13 Max 46

Either a rest day in Woodbridge or an opportunity to see some of the beautiful and unspoilt coastline. You can complete a circuit of the Deben estuary visiting the traditional seaside resort of Felixstowe before taking a small ferry across the river mouth. Alternatively, you can drop in on the arts community at Snape Maltings and see Orford Castle and the Ness, Shingle Street and the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Boat trips can also be taken on the Alde, from Snape and Orford, or on the Deben, from Waldringfield.

Mileage: Rec 11,25,30,31,35,38 or 42 Min 0 Max 48

Winding through Suffolk lanes you’ll pass through the villages of Little Bealings, Tuddenham, Claydon to name a few – each with its own character, church and village inn. You’ll cycle through beautiful Chelsworth with its narrow bridge and weavers’ cottages, before your overnight stop in Bildeston. Here, in this once important ‘Wool Town’, you can explore the streets lined with overhanging, timber framed houses.

Mileage: Rec 30 Min 25 Max 37

Cycle the lanes to the prosperous ‘Wool Town’ of Hadleigh with its fine old High Street and pretty riverside walk and on down the Brett valley to the lovely village of East Bergholt, birthplace of the artist John Constable. Ride down the hill to Flatford Mill on the River Stour and take a walking tour of some of the many scenes little changed from when they were captured by Constable 200 years ago. After a cream tea and perhaps a little fun on the river in a rowing boat, return via Stoke-by-Nayland with its own connections to Constable, and beautiful Kersey where you splash through the ford, to Bildeston for your second overnight stay.

Mileage: Rec 36 Min 0 Max 36

The ride today takes you through some more of the prettiest villages in England. If you wish, there is the option to visit Long Melford with its mile long high street full of antique shops, or you may simply take more time to explore the unique collection of medieval buildings in Lavenham, the most spectacular of the wool towns, before your return to Needham Market and departure.

Mileage: Rec 23 Min 11 Max 33