Thurston, Suffolk

Black Bourn Valley, formerly called Grove Farm, is an 88 hectare nature reserve between Thurston and Elmswell in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.The River Black Bourn runs through this large nature reserve, which has many bird species, such as barn owls, yellowhammers, linnets, reed buntings and skylarks. Plants in wet meadows include marsh orchids and marsh marigolds. The river has reportedly dried up during the 2022 European drought.There is access by going east out of Thurston along Barrell's Road, and turning south at the end. The entrance to the site, shown on the Ordnance Survey map and on the site as Grove Farm, is on the left just before the railway line.

Nether Hall is a country house situated in the village of Pakenham, Suffolk. It was one of the ancient manors of the village and seat of the Greene baronets.

Thurston Community College is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Thurston, Suffolk, England. As of 2018, it has 1,733 students aged 11–18 drawn from the local village and surrounding rural communities.

Thurston railway station serves the village of Thurston in Suffolk, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Greater Anglia. It is served primarily by local services between Ipswich and Cambridge.

Beyton is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. The village is around 8 miles (13 km) east of Bury St Edmunds, 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Thurston and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Stowmarket. The main Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds road used to pass through the village – the modern A14 dual carriageway bypasses the village to the north.

Newe House is a Grade II* listed Jacobean dower house in the village of Pakenham, Suffolk.Newe House was built in 1622 by Sir Robert Bright and today the façade of the house remains largely unmodified. Sir Robert had bought the land surrounding Pakenham from the Bacon family several years before. In the late 1640s it was sold to Sir William Spring, who had been a prominent Parliamentarian during the Civil War. The house remained in the Spring family until the mid-nineteenth century, being used as the family dower house. The Spring family coat-of-arms is still apparent above the main door to the manor.Newe House has been extensively restored by its current owners whose family have owned it since 1947.

Pakenham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Its name can be linked to Anglo-Saxon roots, Pacca being the founder of a settlement on the hill surrounding Pakenham church. The village describes itself as the "Village of Two Mills", as it has a water mill which claims to be the only working example in the county. The Pakenham windmill no longer works. The village sits to the east of Bury St. Edmunds. From 1974 to 2019 it was administered as part of the borough of St Edmundsbury. Prior to the local government reorganisation of 1974 it was part of Thingoe Rural District.

Pakenham Meadows is a 5.8-hectare (14-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Pakenham in Suffolk.This unimproved and poorly drained meadow has a variety of soil types from loam to peat, and the vegetation types are correspondingly diverse. The herb-rich grassland has yellow rattle, bugle, fen bedstraw, oxe-eye daisy, ragged robin and southern marsh orchid.A public footpath from Fen Road goes through the site.

Hessett is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Hessett is located around four miles south east of Bury St Edmunds. It is a rural village with a single north-south road off which most other roads flow. In 2011 its population was 464 which is towards the highest recorded population since its peak in 1850. Hessett is south of Beyton and west of Drinkstone.

Rougham is a village and former civil parish 19 miles (31 km) north west of Ipswich, now in the parish of Rushbrooke with Rougham, in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. Until April 2019 Rougham was in the St Edmundsbury district. In 1961 the parish had a population of 777. Rougham is also a ward, in 2011 the ward had a population of 2341. The ward touches Chadacre, Thurston, Rattlesden, The Fornhams & Great Barton, Moreton Hall, Lavenham, Horringer and Southgate. Rougham is pronounced "Ruff'm". In 1958 the parish had settlements at Mouse Lane estate, Rougham Green, Kingshall Street and Chapmans Close.

During the Second World War Tostock Park was a sub-station of the United States Army Air Force, located in Tostock, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. It was allocated Station No. 502, and supported by RAF Burtonwood.The base was garrisoned by African-American soldiers from the 1517 Quartermaster (Battalion Mobile) (Aviation), consisting of: 1970 Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) 2023 Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) 2024 Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) 2104 Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) based in the neighbouring village of Drinkstone.

Tostock is a small village around eight miles east of Bury St. Edmunds in the county of Suffolk. It is a very traditional Suffolk village, with a good example of a fourteenth-century church. As of 2011, the village is host to 198 houses with 472 residents.