text: Children's author Dodie Smith lived near to Sudbury, and part of her famous novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, which inspired the Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians, takes place in the town including St Peter's Church.Just before midnight they came to the market town of Sudbury. Pongo paused as they crossed the bridge over the River Stour. "Here we enter Suffolk" he said, triumphantly. They ran on through the quiet streets of old houses and into the market square. They had hoped they might meet some dog and hear if any news of the puppies had come at the Twilight Barking, but not so much as a cat was stirring. While they were drinking at the fountain, church clocks began to strike midnight.
  Transport
  By road, Sudbury is served by the A131 which runs from near Little Waltham, north of Chelmsford in Essex, and the A134 which runs from Colchester in Essex, through Bury St Edmunds, past Thetford in Norfolk to its west, before merging with the A10 south of King's Lynn. There is a taxi rank for Hackney carriages at Old Market Place. The bus station on Hamilton Road in the town centre provides services to neighbouring places, operated by Hedingham & Chambers and other operators.
  The railway arrived in Sudbury in 1847 when Sudbury railway station was built on the Stour Valley Railway. The town escaped the Beeching Axe of the 1960s and maintained its rail link with London, although many villages further up the river lost their railway stations. Sudbury railway station now forms the terminus of the branch line which is marketed as the Gainsborough Line, with stops at Bures and Chappel and Wakes Colne railway stations, terminating at Marks Tey railway station. This junction on the Great Eastern Main Line provides connections to London, where trains terminate at Liverpool Street station.