Detail 1:
Willy Lott's House behind Flatford Mill.

Detail 2:
On the sandy bank in the foreground can be seen traces of a horse and boy, originally introduced into the picture by Constable from the full-size sketch but subsequently painted out by him, as was a wooden barrel.

Detail 4:
The ‘Hay Wain’ is about to turn towards the right and make its way past the edge of the ‘spong’, an island in the river and through the short cut towards the main course of the river Stour.
Detail 3:
The ‘Hay Wain’ is a local farm wagon normally used for carting timber but adapted to carry hay through the addition of wooden slats on either side. It stands in the mill-stream ford, perhaps cooling its wooden wheels shod with hoops of iron (so as to preserve the contact between the two materials).

Detail 5:
The ‘Hay Wain’ will continue its journey across to the distant meadow to collect another load of hay.
Detail 6:
On the right an angler is making his way through the reeds towards a rowing-boat moored by the water’s edge - the latter painted from a chalk study made by Constable some ten years earlier.