Suffolk and Essex Coast and Heaths National Landscape

The landscape encompasses a unique mixture of shingle beaches, crumbling cliffs, marshes, estuaries, heathland, forests, and farmland. Its picturesque countryside, towns and villages have an unspoilt and tranquil atmosphere, with a very distinctive ‘Suffolk’ character. Visitor activity is centred around the medieval market town of Aldeburgh and other coastal towns and hamlets such as Woodbridge, Southwold and Walberswick.

The Suffolk and Essex Coast and Heaths is also one of the most important wildlife areas in Britain, encompassing three National Nature Reserves, many Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the RSPB’s Minsmere Reserve. The mudflats and creeks of the Stour, Deben, Blyth, Ore and Alde estuaries contain wildlife wetland sites of national and international importance, whilst the wild, sandy stretches of ancient open heathland such as the Sandlings are a refuge for nightjar, woodlark, and rare heath butterflies.