The village is located around 14 miles (23 km) - from Bury St Edmunds in an area of rolling arable land to the south of the Little Ouse river valley.

Nearby, on the edge of Hinderclay wood, were found the remains of an early Iron Age settlement.

The village was recorded in Domesday as "Hilderclea" (from the Anglo-Saxon for "tongue of land in a river where the elder grew").

The area is managed by the Little Ouse Headwaters Project with the aim of reverting it to a more natural wetland state.

[3] Hinderclay Lakes, 900 metres (0.56 mi) east, are a good source of fishing and are being created by the extraction of peat, which is sold for garden use.