Suffolk Coast Experience July 2025
Another good short break away
INTRODUCTION
I have said this before – Holiday photos in their own right usually have no context and maybe could have no interest to the casual observer.
This blog is another story of 4 days away exploring the Suffolk Coast line.
The trip had two advantages. It was only 90 miles away and every place to visit was within a 10 mile radius.
DAY 1 - SOUTHWOLD
Southwold is a seaside town in Suffolk on the North Sea. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 11 miles south of Lowestoft, 29 miles north-east of Ipswich. At the 2021 Census, the population was 950.
Southwold was mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) as a fishing port. Over following centuries, however, a shingle bar built up across the harbour mouth, preventing the town from becoming a major port.
Southwold was the home of a number of Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, notably a party of 18 assembled under Rev. Young, which travelled in the Mary Ann in 1637.
A fire in 1659 devastated most of the town, creating spaces that were never built on again. Today this “series of varied and very delightful village greens” and the restriction of expansion by the surrounding marshes, have preserved the town’s tidy appearance.
On the green just above the beach, descriptively named Gun Hill, six 18-pounder cannons commemorate the Battle of Sole Bay, fought in 1672 between English and French fleets on one side and the Dutch (under Michiel de Ruyter) on the other. The battle was bloody but indecisive and many bodies were washed ashore. Southwold Museum has a collection of mementos of the event. These cannons were captured from the Scots at Culloden and given to the town by the Duke of Cumberland, who had landed at Southwold in October 1745 having been recalled from Europe to deal with the Jacobite threat. In World War II they were prudently removed, reputedly buried for safety, and returned to their former position after hostilities.
On 15 May 1943, low-flying German fighter-bombers attacked the town and killed eleven people,
Once home to several industries, Southwold’s economy is now centred on services: hotels, holiday lets, catering and tourism. With surrounding areas largely given to agriculture, the town is an important commercial centre, with independent shops, cafés and restaurants and a market on Mondays and Thursdays, although there has been a recent trend for retail chains in food and beverages, clothing and stationery to take over the independent units.
Adnams Brewery remains in Southwold as its largest single employer. The fishing fleet is much diminished, but Southwold Harbour remains one of the main fishing ports on the Suffolk coastline. In 2012, additional fleet facilities were constructed there as part of the repair and reinstatement of the Harbour’s North Wall.
As you can see from the photos there was plenty of blue sky and sunshine.
Being coastline there is an inevitable strong breeze and rough sea.
Bracing but pleasant but it was a challenge to eat a soft ice cream in a strong breeze
DAY 2 - RSPB MINSMERE
RSPB Minsmere is a beautiful place situated on a wild stretch of the Suffolk Coast.
It seems a bit odd to post a picture of a Nuclear Power Station. This is Sizewell B and Sizewell C will be built next to it
Sizewell C will be located approximately 3 kilometres (about 1.9 miles) south of the RSPB Minsmere visitor centre but less than a mile from the Southern border. While there will be no land taken from the Minsmere reserve itself, potential impacts such as erosion and changes to water levels are being considered.
Specifically, the construction of Sizewell C could impact Minsmere’ s frontage and the sluice, which regulates water levels across the reserve and the Sizewell Belts Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Concerns have been raised by groups like the Suffolk Wildlife Trust regarding these potential impacts, which are part of ongoing consultations.
The RSPB, however, maintains that the Sizewell C project will not harm the nature reserve, as Sizewell B has operated without negative impacts.
In 10 years if I take a photo at the same spot at the same focal length Sizewell C will fill the lens and dominate the foreground.
Meanwhile Minsmere remains beautiful and wild with an abundance of wildlife.
As my photos will attest there is more than birds on the reserve – butterflies, Bee-Wasps (yes there is such a thing).
Undoubtedly the highlight of the day was at the Bittern Hide.
In previous visits this has been quiet and for a significant part of our time there it was the same.
Then in a mater of minutes there were Marsh Harriers and Hen Harriers and a reclusive Bittern (No picture but seen clearly through binoculars.
DAY 2 - THORPENESS AND ALDEBURGH
Having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at RSPB Minsmere there was a opportunity to make a whistlestop visit to Thorpeness on the way to Aldeburgh for the “must be done” event – Fish and Chips from the Golden Galleon eaten on the Sea Wall. Much Cheaper than local.
A notable feature of Thorpeness is a set of alms houses built in the 1920s. To hide the eyesore of having a water tower in the village, a tank built in 1923 was clad in wood to make it look like a small house on top of a five-storey tower, with a separate mill next to it, which pumped water to it. It is known as the “House in the Clouds”, and after mains water was installed in the village, the old tank was transformed into a huge games room with views over the land from Aldeburgh to Sizewell.
An artificial boating lake known as the Meare was created where there had once been an Elizabethan shipping haven that had silted up. Many of the inspirations for the Meare came from a personal friend of the Ogilvies (who owned and developed Thorpeness since 1859), J. M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan. Along with a large main pond, there are several channels with landings marked with names from the Peter Pan stories. Tiny islands on the Meare contain locations found in the novel, such as the pirates’ lair, Wendy’s house, and many others, where children are encouraged to play. The Meare was dug to a shallow depth for safety reasons.
There is an abundance of wild life on the Meare and I was able to snap a large dragonfly.
The beach is beautiful stretching a long distance in either direction. Isolated and peaceful
DAY 3 - FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE
Framlingham Castle was the choice for this day as the weather forecast was not good.
Actually the day started off with hot sunshine making a mockery of the forecast but the storm clouds did gather post lunch.
Framlingham and particularly the Castle is steeped in history – more of that later.
A modern day celebrity is a resident – Ed Sheeran. Well known for his support of local charities in Suffolk including the Elizabeth Hospice which has a shop in the town.
Framlingham Castle was built in 1148 and was destroyed shortly afterwards and then rebuilt and has largely remained intact since then.
Some interesting facts
- The castle once belonged to the Howard family (Henry VIII’s wife was the connection)
- It has a moat that has never been filled with water.
- Often when repairs were made the craftsmen would insert a brick with their name on – this one was a mistake – see photo in gallery
DAY 4 - WALBERSWICK AND DUNWICH
Again two destinations within easy driving distance of the hotel.
Walberswick is a small hamlet – population 380 sitting across from Southwold across the River Blyth.
A port from the 1300s until 1st World War it now hosts mainly holiday homes set around marshland. The view here is of Southwold.
Dunwich itself is very small with a population of 83.
In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was the capital of the Kingdom of the East Angles, but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. At its height it was an international port similar in size to 14th-century London. Its decline began in 1286 when a storm surge hit the East Anglian coast, followed by two great storms in February and December of 1287, until it eventually shrank to the village it is today.
The main attraction around Dunwich is the heath and is wild and beautiful.
Main entertainment for the afternoon was sitting and enjoying afternoon tea next to a Budleia bush. This attracts butterflies
The birds in the gallery are juvenile robins. It seems as though they had been abandoned by their mother with th the noise they were making.
Probably so but they were well looked after by the staff wo regularly feed them mealworms
CONCLUSION
This was our second visit to the Suffolk Coast and it didn’t disappoint.
Much of our break was in places away from towns – in the heaths, the reserves and the wide swathes of beaches (with very few people in attendance).