Suffolk Villages and Saffron Walden

Explore some of the most beautiful countryside in England on this day trip. Take a scenic tour with your knowledgeable guide through Gainsborough country to Saffron Walden. This place holds great significance in the cloth industry of the Tudor period.

Visit to Finchingfield

After meeting your guide, you pass through the village of Thaxted. It was once home to the composer Gustav Holst and famed as the spiritual home of Morris Dancing. The first stop of the day is at Finchingfield for morning coffee. With its duck pond and windmill, it is said to be one of the prettiest villages in England.

Suffolk Countryside

Leaving Finchingfield you will continue into Suffolk, passing by Sudbury, birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough and travelling through more glorious countryside and pretty villages, including Lavenham, considered by many to be the best preserved medieval village in Britain.

Lunch at The Bull Hotel

You will end your morning tour at Long Melford, famed for its very long village street and made famous as a film location for the TV series Lovejoy. Enjoy lunch at the historic Bull Hotel.

‘Dick Turpin’ Country

After lunch, you will head back towards Essex and into ‘Dick Turpin’ Country, passing through many more pretty villages including Hempstead, birthplace of the famous Highwayman.

Saffron Walden

The final stop of the day is at Saffron Walden, famed for its production of the Saffron Crocus, once used as a dye in the cloth industry which dominated this area in the Medieval and Tudor Period. Here you can enjoy a short walk with your guide before heading home.