Aldeburgh, Suffolk travel guide and Aldeburgh information

Visit Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh is a small town on the coast of eastern Suffolk (north-east of Ipswich).

Popular with day-trippers, Aldeburgh still has a small local fishing fleet (you can buy fresh fish on the beach), and the town is pleasant to explore with an interesting mix of shops and galleries. There are a few notable attractions in Aldeburgh, including:

- a well maintained beach (shingle) that has been awarded the blue Flag award for high standards of cleanliness and maintenance

- the Moot Hall, the traditional meeting place for Aldeburgh town council (and still in use today), is a pretty half-timbered and red-brick building dating from 1650 that now also houses a small local museum.

- a substantial Martello Tower (these were the first line of defence against a possible invasion of England by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century, and more than 100 were built along the coast of south-east England). There is little to indicate that the tower once stood at the heart of the village of Slaughden - the entire village apart from the tower has since been washed out to sea

- a large sculptural scallop shell, intended to be both a work of contemporary art and a tribute to Benjamin Britten (who lived here in Aldeburgh in the middle of the 20th century), can be seen on the beach - the words 'I hear those voices that will not be drowned' cut into the edge of the sculpture come from the opera Peter Grimes by the composer

- there is a 19th century windmill (now without its sails and in use as a private home) on the coast

The association with Benjamin Britten is celebrated each June in Aldeburgh, with the popular 'Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts', an event started by Britten himself.

Close to Aldeburgh

The National Trust maintain a beach and coastal centre at Dunwich Heath where you can follow an attractive nature trail with a whence to see various wildlife including seals and sea-birds.