Shingle beaches, reedy estuaries and gorse heaths along a soft, low-lying coast made for gentle walking
The Suffolk coast is low and quiet, a mix of shingle beaches, tidal estuaries, reedbeds and sandy heath. The National Landscape runs to 405 square kilometres, from around the Stour up the shore, taking in a coastline that shifts year to year, worn back in one place and piled up in another.
You can walk long, flat stretches on the King Charles III England Coast Path, past the beach huts of Southwold and out towards the shingle at Orfordness-Havergate. Inland, the dry heather and gorse of Westleton Heath come into their own in late summer.
None of it is steep, which makes it kind on tired legs and younger walkers, though the paths can be shingle underfoot and slow going. It’s exposed to the east wind off the sea, and the estuaries fill on high tides, so it pays to check where you’re heading.
