Many bus routes pass through Long Melford. Probably the most useful ones for the visitor connect to the village from Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds, Colchester, Ipswich and Haverhill. The outline of these main services is given below.

There are also several other routes through the surrounding villages, but some of them run on only one or two days in the week.

To get full details on the bus services around Long Melford the best source is the East Anglia Traveline web site. If you hit the link for 'Plan a Journey', it will allow you to put in your starting and ending points, and the time when you want to travel, and then responds with details of the services available, including a change on the way if necessary.

Sudbury
There are lots of local buses between Sudbury and Long Melford during the day (roughly four an hour).

Evenings and Sundays are more of a problem, and you probably need a taxi. The last bus from Sudbury starts at 18:10, a double-decker 753 going to Bury St Edmunds.

 

 

 

Felix service 716 (Monday to Friday)

Leaves Sudbury bus station half hourly at hh:03 and hh:33 from 09:33 to 14:33, and then at 16:20, 16:50 and 17:20

. . . and arrives in Long Melford about 10 minutes later.

 

 

 

These services also run the other way, from Long Melford to Sudbury, following a similar pattern.

There are many other services too; in particular Chambers service 753 hourly from Sudbury to Bury St Edmunds goes through Long Melford, and so does Beeston's service 236 to Glemsford, Clare and Haverhill. 

Bury St Edmunds
Chambers service 753 runs from Bury St Edmunds Bus Station (stand 5) through Long Melford on its way to Colchester. It follows a lovely scenic route through a string of villages : Sicklesmere, Stanningfield, Cockfield, Lavenham, Great Waldingfield, and Acton before reaching us, so it's not too surprising that it nearly takes a whole hour for the journey!

Buses leave Bury St Edmunds hourly at hh:15 from 08:15 to 18:15 (Monday to Saturday)

The return service leaves Long Melford hourly from 09:15 to 17:15.

There are other Chambers services, too, that run by different routes from Bury St Edmunds via Long Melford to Sudbury. Interestingly, they mostly seem to go through Hartest (which is a jolly nice village, and well worth a visit anyway). The times vary, depending on the other places they go through.

 

	370	370	373	372
Bury St Edmunds	08:50	11:05	13:35	17:25
Long Melford	09:27	11:42	14:46	18:37

 

Colchester
Chambers service 753 also runs from Colchester Bus Station (stand 7) through Long Melford on its way back to Bury St Edmunds. The route goes via West Bergholt, Wormingford, Bures, Great Cornard and Sudbury before reaching Long Melford, and again it takes just over an hour to get here.

Buses leave Colchester at 07:45 (terminates at Sudbury) and then hourly at hh:15 from 09:15 to 17:15

The return service leaves Long Melford at 07:30 and 08:30 and then hourly at hh:05, from 09:05 to 17:05, arriving in Colchester one hour and five minutes later.

Ipswich
From Ipswich, during the week, you have to go to Sudbury and change

Buses leave Ipswich about every hour and a half throughout the day. The journey takes one hour, again visiting some nice places on the way. (You may have to change at Hadleigh.) The return service is similar.

Haverhill
Beestons service 236 runs from Haverhill Bus Station (Stand G) along the Stour valley through Sturmer, Birdbrook,Stoke by Clare, Clare, Cavendish, Glemsford and Stanstead before reaching Long Melford on its way to Sudbury. (Monday to Saturday)

 

Haverhill bus station	07:45 (not Sat.)	08:45	09:45	10:45	14:50	15:50	17:10
Long Melford (Black Lion)	08:20	09:20	10:20	11:20	15:25	16:25	17:45

 

The return service is :

 

Long Melford (Black Lion)	06:55 (not Sat.)	08:00	08:55	09:55	13:55	14:55	16:20
Haverhill bus station	07:30	08:35	09:30	10:30	14:30	15:30	16:55

 

 Telephone Contacts:

 

Beestons	01473 822577
Chambers	01787 227233
Felix	01787 310574