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Keeping It Special in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project

Simon AmstutzAs manager of a publically funded team whose aim is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty and special qualities of an area of countryside along the Stour Valley I am often asked…
‘What is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, what do you actually do and why do you do it?’
My response to that question is outlined below, but the brief answer is that an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of land that has been deemed so important to society that it is designated by Government. The legislation relating to these protected landscapes ensures that public bodies and statutory undertakers, for example utility supply companies, have to demonstrate they have paid due regard to the purposes of the designation, to conserve and enhance its landscape, when carrying out their operations. The area is also subject to both local and national planning policy to ensure the area is protected for the nation. In planning terms the designation is equivalent to National Park status.

What we do relates to protecting the natural beauty of the area by influencing planning policy and consents, facilitating projects that enhance the area’s landscape and wildlife and inform as many people as possible about its special qualities.

Returning to the original question, this is something I often reflect upon, not least when I am seeking to justify the public investment in our work and in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project. As is often the case, it is when my children, friends and members of my family are sitting around the dining table and conversation turns to work that I have to justify what the team does. When I think what the staff team does, I often struggle to encapsulate our work in a perfect ‘soundbite’ that is so often expected in a time of instant responses.

At these times and for those with a wider and perhaps longer perspective perhaps, I ask them to think of their favourite place in the Stour Valley. The response is often a view, a walk or a glimpse of wildlife and I can then bounce off their interest to discuss our work.

I have already said that we are a publicly funded team and although this is true, we are working to reduce the reliance on the public purse to pursue our aims. I do however feel that the investment is justified when we consider that the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) designation of the Dedham Vale is a national decision made by the Government’s advisors on the natural environment and should be supported by the state. Indeed 75% of our core costs for the AONB work comes from central Government (DEFRA), with the rest coming from local Government. I use the phrase core costs carefully as for every pound we take from the public purse we match with another pound from sponsorship, donations, grant applications and income generation to deliver project work, thus doubling our ‘turnover’ and ability to conserve and enhance this special area.

river restoration

Volunteers

stour valley

The Stour Valley

Little Bradley – river restoration project with volunteer support. The Stour Valley

powerlinesgrass cutting

Box Valley powerlines Long Melford, Stour Valley volunteers

It should also be noted that a recent appeal to parish councils and societies such as the Colne-Stour Countryside Association to give ongoing support for the work of the project team has been very generously supported by both parish councils and this Society.

The team has also reduced its costs to reflect the fall in contributions from the public purse since 2010. We have restructured the team twice in the last 5 years, reduced our operational costs by moving office and developing our volunteer support that has added up to a reduction in our core costs by around 35%. We have maintained a functioning staff team and a grant scheme, known as the Sustainable Development Fund, worth £30,000 to improve the environmental, social and economic aspects of the Dedham Vale.

The Stour Valley is a special area, recognised not just by those that live and work in it but by many from around the country. A couple of years ago we co-hosted the National Association for AONB’s conference and I was over whelmed by the number of delegates who knew of or had a connection with the area and relished the opportunity to come back and explore the area. Maybe that is in part due to the apparent omni-presence of images of the area in prints of world famous works by the great artists, Constable and Gainsborough, in almost every small hotel, guest house and restaurant in the country. Behind that recognition lies what the DEFRA minister responsible for AONBs described as a hidden economic powerhouse of protected landscapes. A recent publication – “So Much More Than The View” – commissioned by National Parks England and the National Association for AONBs revealed that the value of these special places to the national economy was over £20 billion annually and the core AONB teams cost society as little as 6p per person per year. Locally, the value of tourism in the Dedham Vale AONB is nearly £52 million per year, up nearly £7 million in four years, which demonstrates that our finest landscapes are worth so much more than a beautiful view and a desirable place to live.

The value of these landscapes includes the health benefits that they can provide. Numerous studies demonstrate that physical and mental health can be improved through access to natural spaces, and the Stour Valley is one of those places that can be enjoyed without damaging the very essence of what makes it so special. If, by encouraging people to enjoy the Stour Valley and thus improve their physical and mental health, this can help in reducing the £141 billion being spent on health in 2015/16 then surely it is a positive investment for the national good. These concepts can sometimes seem too vast to comprehend, so think instead of the individual who we know enjoys an invigorating walk in the country and feels better the next day! And if you add a meal at one of the many fine establishments in the area you are also doing your bit for the local economy.

Beyond some of these bigger national concepts what does the Project actually do? Firstly we should acknowledge the staff team is accountable to a Joint Advisory Committee made up of local councillors that provides a scrutiny function on expenditure and business planning.

Behind that lies the AONB Partnership, which comprises all JAC members plus representatives of environmental, business and agricultural interests. The Partnership receives reports from members as well as promoting policies to ensure that the Stour Valley’s natural beauty is maintained and enhanced. Threats to the valley are discussed and with members representing such a wide range of interests, these can be countered with great effect. There is a statutary management plan whose drafts are commented on by all members so that it can be finally endorsed and agreed by the whole Partnership.

LanghamDedham looking towards Manningtree

Langham Dedham looking towards Manningtree

Canoes on the StourFlatford overhead lines due to be undergrounded in 2016

Canoes on the Stour Flatford overhead lines due to be undergrounded in 2016

The staff team works in a number of ways. Although it intervenes in the planning system, the Project understands that the countryside is an evolving entity. We work to ensure the development that does go ahead contributes to the natural beauty and special qualities of the area. It is not, however, a team that sits commenting on the plans of others but is out there seeking to influence land management and directly undertaking projects to enhance the conditions for wildlife and access opportunities to quietly enjoy the area.

We run teams of dedicated and amazing volunteers that undertake a variety of environmental project work. We also support parish councils and community groups throughout the valley to undertake projects that enhance their local area.

The staff team seeks to improve the understanding of what is an historic landscape, facilitating archaeological projects, often funded from external partners. We seek to communicate what is so special about the area through our website, a bi-annual newspaper and through a series of public events including the ever popular annual forum. We also work on transport related projects such as the Dedham Vale Hopper Bus and projects to help our wildlife. It is widely reported that 60% of our recorded wildlife is in decline and the AONB team has facilitated projects to help barn owls, otters, the native black poplar tree and bats, as well as undertaking habitat management of grasslands, planting trees and hedgerows and clearing invasive scrub from delicate habitats that help our less well known species of wildlife.

In the last three years we have hosted a River Stour Project Officer, funded by the Environment Agency and Anglian Water, to seek to improve the environmental factors along the whole of the River Stour catchment. This has been a hugely successful project with some really exciting improvements delivered. It has been a lesson to all of us in balancing the needs of the environment, flood defence, the navigation (where projects are on the main river) and landowners/managers. What has at times been a difficult balancing act has bought a wide range of interests together for the common good of the area. There are now areas in the upper and mid Stour where the sound of a babbling river can be heard again. This has contributed to the enhanced environmental qualities of the river and its potential for wildlife, but perhaps more importantly to many, the evocative sound of the river is once again adding to our enjoyment of being in the countryside.

I cannot contribute to an article for the magnificent Colne-Stour Countryside Association without making a reference to the AONB boundary review. As many reading this will know, the boundary of the nationally designated AONB is to the east of Bures. What some will also know is that it is an aspiration of the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Partnership to seek an extension of that boundary westwards further up the Stour Valley. It may be that not everyone will share that aspiration but if the project is to proceed there will be many opportunities to put forward views and arguments to back your individual view.

That said, any review of the boundary can only be undertaken by Natural England, the Government’s advisor on the natural environment. In October 2015 the Secretary of State approved a project to extend the boundary of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. The next timetabled boundary review to be looked at is the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB, which has been seeking to have its boundary reviewed for the last 20 years. Following that review, expected to take around 2 to 3 years, Surrey Hills AONB has been promised that it will be next in line. After that review it is not clear how Natural England will prioritise what I understand to be around 15 requests for boundary reviews and new designations for National Parts and AONBs, although Natural England are well aware of the aspirations in the Stour Valley.

To build on this Dedham Vale aspiration, the Project has commissioned a study from a nationally respected consultancy, using funds contributed by parish councils and societies such as the Colne Stour Countryside Association, to look at the factors that contribute to natural beauty and special qualities of the existing AONB and an area upstream of existing western boundary of the AONB. This will also help us to assess the merits or otherwise of development applications in the Stour Valley and may support further major grant applications.

So in answer to the original question I posed myself… what do you actually do? For a team of less than three and a half full time individuals my answer is… an awful lot! I think that the team makes the Stour Valley a better place for residents, businesses and visitors alike. The team’s contribution has its own value but also assists economic recovery through the support it gives to the important tourism sector. A recent study by Visit Suffolk, and yes I am acutely aware that half the Stour Valley is in Essex, noted that 75% of visitors cite the countryside as one of the reasons they have chosen to come to the area. Therefore I would suggest that a superb natural environment can help our rural economy and literally make us all healthier.

So enjoy our Stour Valley and help us to ensure that it remains the fantastic place that it is today. By reading this article and newsletter I would assume you have an interest in ensuring that the area does retain its special qualities, so I urge you to support local initiatives to further enhance the area and, if minded, to make a contribution to the Stour Valley Environment Fund, a Community Fund hosted by the Essex Community Foundation, to ensure that this beautiful place will remain for many years to come.

Simon Amstutz
AONB Manager, Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project

Simon Amstutz has kept us up to date with the on-going progress of The Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project having given an in depth account of Managing a Masterpiece in the 2013 Magazine.

SVV at Clare Castle 2015

2023 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 Magazine
Year: 2022
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2022
Rebel with a cause
Year: 2022
A National Centre for Thomas Gainsborough’s Masterpieces
Year: 2022
EA Festival at Hedingham Castle
Category: Culture
Year: 2022
The Gainsborough Line
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2022
Music, Mischief and Mayhem – Opera at Layer Marney
Year: 2022
Bures Music Festival
Year: 2022
Holm House Gardens in Suffolk
Year: 2022

2020 - Welcome to our 2020 lockdown edition - only published ONLINE. Read about the wonderful Alfred Munnings Exhibition "Behind the Lines"; find out how the beavers have been getting on at the Spains Hall Estate in Finchingfield, introduced back into Essex after an absence of 400 years; explore the link between Ferriers in Bures and the Voyage of the Mayflower, the Salem Witch trials and Wampum belts; read a fascinating interview with Carl Shillingford, talented Michelin chef and keen local forager; and enjoy a celebratory update from Ken Forrester on South African wines and his support for a wonderful local school.  

2020 Magazine
Year: 2020
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2020
Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist
Category: Art, Culture
Year: 2020
The Foragers Retreat – Michelin chef in Pebmarsh.
Category: Food, Nature
Year: 2020
Dam Good Job – Beavers back in Essex after 400 years.
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature
Year: 2020
Ferriers – a Bures house and its connection to the Mayflower.
Category: Adventure. Travel, Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2020
Three special milestones for Ken Forrester Wines  
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2020

2019 - Read about Tudor living on a grand scale at Alston Court, how Samuel Courtauld & Co. shaped our towns and villages, hear inspiring stories of local vineyards Tuffon Hall and West Street, get an update on the Dedham Vale AONB extension, and take a tour round Polstead Mill, one of East Anglia's beautiful secret gardens. 

Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2019
Dedham Vale AONB extension
Year: 2019
The Tuffon Hall Transformation
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
A Hong Kong racehorse in an Essex field
Category: Nature
Year: 2019
Andy Gentle – A chainsaw love affair
Category: Business
Year: 2019
A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale.
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2019
Underground Moats & Zinc Cathedrals
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
Secret Gardens of East Anglia – Polstead Mill
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Repairing the damage of a supermarket delivery van
Year: 2019
How Samuel Courtauld and Co. shaped our towns and villages
Category: Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2019
Ken Forrester
Year: 2019
CSCA Photography Competition
Year: 2019
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2019

2018 - Read about Hedingham Castle, a new National Centre for Gainsborough in Sudbury, award-winning new Gins from Adnams, aspects of our Industrial Heritage, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project, and take a look at the proposed new Constitution for CSCA.. 

Chairmans Letter April 2018
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
History of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, Culture, History
Year: 2018
Another Suffolk Success Story – Time for a G & T?
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2018
Some more aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: Agricultural, Brewing, distilling and wine, History
Year: 2018
An Earl’s Tower
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
A Castle Reborn
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
A National Centre for Gainsborough set within the town where he was born and the landscape that inspired him
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, History
Year: 2018
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens, History
Year: 2018
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2018
New Constitution
Year: 2018
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2018

2017 - Read about our local industrial heritage, Paycocke's House history, why heritage matters, the art of Alfred Munnings, a haunted house in Lamarsh, celebrating Gainsborough, the beauty of recreating Cedric Morris's Iris collection and a small wine snippet from Ken Forrester. 

Chairmans Letter April 2017
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2017
Heritage Matters
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2017
Some aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: History
Year: 2017
Paycocke’s House: a witness to history
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
The House of his Dreams: Reimagining The Munnings Art Museum
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
‘The Haunted House’ of Lamarsh – Some Early Reflections
Category: History
Year: 2017
Gainsborough’s House: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
Another, highly unusual, Suffolk Success Story
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Garden Visits 2017
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Dirty Little Secret
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2017
Website
Category: News
Year: 2017
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2017
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2017

2016 - Interesting articles on medieval graffiti, farming in the Stour Valley, exploring our AONB, early settlers from the Stour Valley to America, the archaeology of a local farm, a wonderful catalogue of British birds, celebrating a Suffolk joinery business, the weather from a South African winery. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2016
Medieval Graffiti: the hidden histories…
Category: History
Year: 2016
Stour Valley Farming
Category: Business
Year: 2016
The Godly Kingdom of the Stour Valley
Category: History
Year: 2016
Keeping It Special in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Lodge Farm, Rectory Road, Wyverstone Street, Suffolk
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2016
A Miscellany of Information about British Birds
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Another Suffolk Success Story
Category: Business
Year: 2016
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2016
Harvest, Fires and Fynbos
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
LOOKING FORWARDS, BEFORE I GET LEFT BEHIND….
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2016
Annual General Meeting and Summer Party
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2016
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2016

2015 - The life and times of a flint knapper. A continuation about the history of the ancient farm at Henny and a visit to the inside of Alston Court, Nayland as well as an insight into The Antiques Roadshow.  

Chairman’s Letter – February 2015
Category: Annual
Year: 2015
Caught Knapping
Category: History
Year: 2015
ALSTON COURT
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2015
ORGANIC MUTTERINGS
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY – PART 2
Category: History
Year: 2015
ON AND OFF THE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Category: Business
Year: 2015
UNLOCKING THE ARTIST WITHIN: FINE ART LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2015
BADGERS – LOVE’EM, OR HATE’EM?
Category: Nature
Year: 2015
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Gardens
Year: 2015
FORRESTER VINEYARDS, SOUTH AFRICA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2015
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2015

2014 - A hair-raising flight from UK to South Africa and an insight into the Wineries of Stellenbosch. An exceptional old mill just outside Bures and a most unusual chapel on the hill behind, as well as a time warp farm at Henny. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2014
Category: Annual
Year: 2014
ST. STEPHEN’S CHAPEL, BURES
Category: History
Year: 2014
THE STELLENBOSCH WINE ROUTE – THE PEOPLE AND THE DOGS!
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2014
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FLIGHT TO STELLENBOSCH AND BACK
Category: Adventure. Travel
Year: 2014
A SUFFOLK SUCCESS STORY – JIM LAWRENCE LTD
Category: Business
Year: 2014
HOLD FARM, BURES ST MARY; A RARE TUDOR WATERMILL
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2014
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY
Category: History
Year: 2014
YOUR COUNTRYSIDE – FIGHT FOR IT NOW! your Britain fight for it now
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2014
TUNBRIDGEWARE
Category: History
Year: 2014
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB) – UPDATE
Category: News, Planning Issues
Year: 2014
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2014
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2014
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2014

2013 - Watermills on the Stour. How Constable and Gainsborough would have seen many of the buildings in our area. Let’s protect the Stour Valley by extending the AONB from where we take over from The Dedham Vale at Wormingford towards Sudbury. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2013
Category: Annual
Year: 2013
THE WATERMILLS OF THE RIVER STOUR
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
MANAGING A MASTERPIECE: THE STOUR VALLEY LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB)
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
BUILDINGS IN THE EAST ANGLIAN LANDSCAPE – AS SEEN BY JOHN CONSTABLE
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
THE ROUND CHURCH AT MAPLESTEAD
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
THE FINE WINES OF ENGLAND
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2013
PROGRESS AGAINST PYLONS: A ROUNDUP OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PYLONS SAGA
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
TEA AND THE TEA CADDY A BRIEF STUDY OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF TEA AND ITS CONTAINERS
Category: History
Year: 2013
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2013
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2013
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2013

2012 - A walk through many of the churches along the River Stour and how the Romans once lived right here in our midst, and how your pint is brewed. Also the ongoing fight to rid the Stour of the blight of Pylons. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – FEBRUARY 2012
Category: Annual
Year: 2012
TREES R US – AN AMATEUR ARBORETUM
Category: Nature
Year: 2012
GLIMPSES INTO SOME STOUR VALLEY CHURCHES
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2012
THE ART OF BREWING
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2012
PLANNING REFORM
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2012
‘ELF ‘N SAFETY . . . AND ALL THAT
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
BRINGING OUR PAST TO LIFE: GESTINGTHORPE ROMAN VILLA
Category: History
Year: 2012
MINIATURE OR APPRENTICE PIECE?
Category: History
Year: 2012
GAINSBOROUGH’S VIEW
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
NEW STOUR VALLEY ENVIRONMENT FUND
Category: News
Year: 2012
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2012
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2012
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 46TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2012

2011 - The brewers of East Anglia. The gardens of Marks Hall as well as the paintings of Alfred Munnings on display in Sudbury. How a small church became the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds and all you need to know about antique birdcages. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – APRIL 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
Pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2011
THE PAINTED CHURCH BECOMES BURY’S CATHEDRAL
Category: History
Year: 2011
MARKS HALL AND THE PHILLIPS PRICE TRUST
Category: History
Year: 2011
BREWING IN EAST ANGLIA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2011
BURES MILL OVER NINE CENTURIES
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2011
LANDSCAPES BY MUNNINGS EXHIBITION AT GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE
Category: Art
Year: 2011
BIRD-CAGES – A FASCINATION
Category: History
Year: 2011
DAWS HALL EVENTS 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2011
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2011
TREASURERS REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2011
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 45TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 6TH MAY 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011

2010 - An artist who enjoyed his port and a canoe adventure along the Stour. Sudbury’s history and Coggeshall Abbey and a fight to get rid of Pylons from the Stour Valley. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2010
A Pint of Port to Paint a Picture
Category: Art, History
Year: 2010
A Walk Round Coggeshall Abbey
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
By Canoe to Cattawade
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
Nocturnal Visitors
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Sudbury New Town – c.1330
Category: History
Year: 2010
A Stay in a Nomad’s Tent
Category: Business
Year: 2010
Freeing our countryside of the blight of pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2010
Hobbies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2010
Website
Category: News
Year: 2010
Annual General Meeting 2009
Category: Annual
Year: 2010

2009 - Norwich School art and the Maplesteads. Ancient wallpapers, and is Long Melford the epitome of a Suffolk village? and don’t throw away a rug before checking what it is. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
By Hook or by Crook
Category: Art, History
Year: 2009
Unwanted Wildlife – Some Handy Hints
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
East Ruston Old Vicarage
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Squash a Squirrel – Save a Tree
Category: Nature
Year: 2009
Historic Wallpapers and Cole & Son
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Long Melford – ‘Suffolk in a day’
Category: Architectural Interest, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2009
Don’t throw away a fortune!
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Garden Visits. Away Days
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Website
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
Editors Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2009
Annual General Meeting 2008
Category: Annual
Year: 2009

2008 - The bell founders of Sudbury and all about a rogue from our area, Sir John Hawkwood, and a Sudbury secret – Gainsborough’s House. 

Member’s Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2008
Cycling in Suffolk – An Environmental Holiday
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
The Sudbury Bell Founders
Category: History
Year: 2008
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2008
From Sible Hedingham to Florence. The Remarkable Life of Sir John Hawkwood
Category: History
Year: 2008
‘One of Suffolk’s Best Kept Secrets’- Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
Discovering Historic Wallpaper in East Anglian Houses
Category: History
Year: 2008
The not so humble Mole (Talpa Europaea) and how to catch him
Category: Nature
Year: 2008
Annual Report 2007.
Category: Annual
Year: 2008

2007 - Why a bell had to be chipped to get into the belfry at Lamarsh. Watermills on the Colne and Dragonflies. 

Water Mills on the Upper Colne
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2007
Dragonflies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2007
Lamarsh Bell Restoration
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2007
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2007
What is wrong with our Horse Chestnuts?
Category: Nature
Year: 2007

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WEBSITE EDITOR

Emma Stewart-Smith

MAGAZINE EDITOR

Christy Simson

CHAIRMAN

Alexander Robson

HON TREASURER

Michael Goodbody

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