Great Bradley is a small village between Newmarket and Haverhill. It is the first settlement on the River Stour that forms the border with Suffolk and Essex. 'Bradley' is derived from 'Broad Ley', the Old English (Anglo Saxon) meaning 'broad wood or clearing'. There is evidence that the area has been lived in since the middle stone age, about 5,000 years ago.

There are only about 400 people in the village. Although there are no direct services in the village other than a post box, a telephone box and a mobile library there are a number of active societies and social events. The towns of Newmarket and Haverhill are just 15 minutes drive away and Cambridge can be reached in 25 minutes. Great Bradley won Best Kept Village in Suffolk in 1983 and 1995.

The history of the village is reflected in the Village sign. It depicts:

• A windmill (which existed in the village until 1949, when the miller took his own life after a storm wrecked the Windmill that he had just restored).
• An ancient oak tree (one remains on Evergreen Lane - It is believed to date from 1200s).
• A fox (Fox Farm was located in the centre of the village and was replaced by Fox Green’s 23 houses in 1988).
• The Church and its much treasured Norman arch and Tudor brick porch
• HRH The Prince of Wales' feathers (the sign was first erected when Charles and Diana married in 1981)
• St John's College: Coat of arms of (for centuries, extensive landowners in the village).
• A Roman coin (found in fields and now deposited with a local museum).

For a small village it has links with many famous people from the mother of Henry VII, to the only athlete to win a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics, to the founder of the Sue Ryder Foundation.

The village is well placed to explore the upper reaches of the Stour Valley, being on the route of the Stour Valley Path and the Newmarket Cycle Way. The Church is well worth a visit - if only to see the architecture and to learn about the four brothers who became successive rectors of the parish for a continuous 74 years.

Great Bradley probably has the most extensive web site of any village in the county. It includes maps of the ancient geology, through to the locations of the mobile phone masts that serve the village today, and everything in between. Visit the site at www.greatbradley.org.uk.

Many thanks to Mike Brophy of Great Bradley who sent in this feature and photos, if you would like your village featured on Village of the Month then email kerry.burn@onesuffolk.co.uk.