Walking Seaside Breaks

For those of us that like to seek solace in the great outdoors and spend our leisure time walking, the coastline of the UK has some most stunning areas on offer, and the Suffolk Coast is no exception. From Lowestoft to Felixstowe you will find an abundance of coastal walks that will truly take your breath away. This part of the Suffolk coast follows the tidal defence embankments that fringe the drained marshes, providing us with steep shingle beaches and well as cliffs topped with fields, forests and heath, providing a great variety for the keen walker.

The North Sea plays it's part in designing the beaches on this stretch of coast, where successive storms and the daily pattern of tides produces huge embankments of pebbles, heaped into shelves and terraces that makes this ever changing area a popular place for walkers time and time again.

For variety, you can combine coast and country walks in this area quite easily. There a number of beautiful country walks just in land from the coast as well a number of bird havens. The river Alde is a big favourite with birdlife, with it's expansive estuary and being tidal it's a place of glistening mud and shallow open water, filled twice a day by the incoming tide and particularly rich in wildlife during migrating months.

Back to the coast and just along from here, you will find the traditional fishing town of Aldeburgh where the fishermen's boats are hauled ashore and the town returns to it's more sedate pace now that the masses of summer visitors have left.

Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk Heritage coast, has a particular charm that has attracted visitors from all over the world. The composer Benjamin Britten settled here, and the annual Aldeburgh Festival at nearby Snape Maltings was developed by him, the site being transformed from disused malthouses into a concert venue of international acclaim that now hosts a year-round programme of musical events.

Built on a foundation of fishing and boat building the town of Aldeburgh still retains it traditions and the sailing boats can been seen dotted along the river at the southern end of the town. The fishing huts, sheds and working boats that scatter along the pebbled shore carry on today as they did years ago, providing numerous subjects for painters and photographers who regularly visit Aldeburgh.

Whether you are a small party or a larger group of keen walkers, the White Lion Hotel in Aldeburgh will be more than happy to accommodate you. A popular hotel for walkers, the White Lion is located at the northern end of Aldeburgh tucked away from the main high street but literally on the shoreline.

With sea views the envy of many coastal hotels, the White Lion is a traditional hotel that aims to treat larger groups as individuals and can arrange meeting rooms for your party to get together in the evenings to discuss the day's sightings.