Suffolk after Norfolk

Proceeding down the coast, Lowestoft, the most easterly place in the United Kingdom, was our first stop in Suffolk. 

Like so many former fishing ports, it has obviously known better times but, as the birthplace of Benjamin Britten, musical fountains outside the tourist office, choreographed to spray to a background of his music, were a pleasant touch.

It has two piers of which the South Pier, adjacent to the river entrance, had only recently re-opened whilst the Claremont Pier remains closed on its seaward side, as does part of the Blue Flag Beach for repairs to the sea wall to be carried out.

The elegance of the Victorian resort of Southwold, dominated by its lighthouse and with the famous beach huts (we noted one for sale at £90,000!) and bustling pier, restored since our last visit, was in marked contrast to Lowestoft.

However, for sheer solitude, Dunwich, a thriving seaport from Roman times until the 14th Century when it was destroyed and swallowed up by the sea in a series of harsh storms, would be hard to exceed. The beach is shingle and the huts are for fishermen but the ruined priory, surrounding heathland and an old fashioned beach cafe continue to attract visitors even on a bleak October day. It was listed in our history tour of England, so made another tick on that list.

Despite adjoining each other Suffolk is very different to neighbouring Norfolk. The vast skies are muted by a more undulating leafier landscape; the houses are of traditional wood and often thatch design  or painted in pastel shades, invariably pink; it all helps make Suffolk villages quintessentially English. No wonder perhaps that Britten decided to make his permanent home therefore at Aldeburgh, just a little further down the coast where we enjoyed a bracing walk to the Martello Tower.

Continuing our journey led us into riverside territory with visits to Woodbridge, Ramsholt and Bawdsey on the River Deben and Pin Mill with its old barges on the River Orwell.

Some of our Suffolk highlights were inland and I shall post about our visits to the National Trust sites in that vicinity separately. We did however finish our trip with a stop at Bury St Edmunds which is an interesting spot. I loved the legend of St Edmund the Angle King who was killed in battle by so many arrows that he looked like a hedgehog according to one Aelfric of Eynsham; he was then beheaded but his head was protected by a wolf until his supporters found it, and when they placed it with his body it miraculously reattached itself! If the story was not enough the Cathedral too is amazing. Not because of the wonderful light inside or its painted roof but because this is a building of recent construction in a Gothic design, the tower being completed only in 2005.

Although the town has many delightful Georgian buildings and we enjoyed exploring the narrow streets and Abbey Gardens, I was also please to find a modern outdoor shopping area with some unusual but fittingly styled flats above. If I lived closer, I would definitely go to Bury for my retail therapy.