Bures and Henny Street

It was a beautiful early autumn morning here – chilly, but with a clear blue sky and sunshine. A good day to do my next River Stour visit.

I did my ‘Bures visit’ in August, but it was during the summer holidays. The bridge at Bures is a favourite ‘jumping into the river spot’ for the local youngsters so I wasn’t really able to get the drawing that I was after as this stretch of the river was crowded with children.  In addition to that I actually have enough paintings for the summer section of my project with Stratford St Mary and Higham which I have already painted, Nayland which I’m working on now, and Boxted Mill which I shall do next. I didn’t need to paint Bures in the summer so I decided to revisit it as an early Autumn painting!

I’m really glad I did as the river was calm and reflective with a slightly hazy distance, as you can see above. This photo was taken from the Millennium Bridge – and this one, below, shows the bridge.

The other way, upstream, brings you to the outskirts of the village of Bures.

There were a number of ducks around, including some quite small ducklings – they must be a second or even third brood – and a pair of mute swans asleep on the Essex bank. Several fishermen were trying their luck, too, well spaced out with all their paraphernalia strewn around them, and rods, low to the water, stretching right out across the river. I really wanted to ask what kind of fish they expected to catch, but didn’t dare disturb them!

Carrying on upstream I drove to Henny Street, where the Stour is right beside the road. This was not on my original destination list but it looked interesting on the map, and I’m glad I went.

Opposite the ‘Henny Swan’ there is a little landing stage which advertises boat trips, so it was easy to get right out over the water,  and the river was wide and clear.

In my studio: I’m working away at Nayland: Summer – rather a lot of catching up to do here!

Open Studios again this weekend! Do come if you’re in the area. 🙂