I had my folks come to visit this weekend and had the task of working out where in the area we should visit. When I first moved to Ipswich I had very poor knowledge of the area, but now that I’m in my 5th (!) year here, I’m getting a better measure for East Anglia. It turned out that I had too many places I wanted to take my parents for the time they were here. So I thought I’d list the some of the great places to visit here for next time they’re down and for anyone else who’s interested:
The Suffolk Coast
There’s so many small towns along this very unspoilt coastline which are great to visit and very different from similar towns along the south coast. Particular highlights are Aldeburgh, Southwold, Walberswick, Thorpe Ness, and Dunwich. Aldeburgh and Southwold are the largest of the coastal towns. Aldeburgh sports a fantastic ice-cream parlour in the summer with a huge array of flavours as well as a tiny little cottage along the sea front that neatly fits into a single car park space. Southwold has its own pier, a lighthouse and a great little restaurant called the Blue Lighthouse.
Framlingham
Further in-land is Framlingham. It’s a tiny little market town but the pride of Framlingham has to be the huge medieval castle which is free to walk around the outside but you pay a fee to go in the grounds.
Norfolk Broads
Further north lies Norwich and the Norfolk Broads. I’ve not spent a huge amount of time in Norfolk, but the Norfolk Broads are well worth a visit. I spent some time in Wroxham which is on the north west side of the broads. Here you can hire a boat in units of one hour to chug along the broads. We hired one for just an hour, and in September (just after peak season) the price was £13.
Pinmill
Pinnmill is a tiny little hamlet on the way to Shotley from Ipswich. It’s right on the river Orwell, along with a great pub called the Butt and Oyster, which has apparently played host to Colin Farell and Ewan McGregor when they were recently filming nearby. The pub is right on the river and has a really good menu – especially worth checking out the specials. There’s also a nice walk along the river from Pin Mill.
Shotley Gate
A small town from which you can see Harwich and Felixstowe across the water. On the way into Shotley there’s some impressive views of the *huge* cargo ships that dock at Felixstowe. There’s a nice walk along the beach at Shotley, and there’s also the marina on the Felixstowe side – can see the lock in almost constant operation on the weekends.
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