Along the River Alde

Snape Marshes, Snape Warren and the reedbeds and mudflats flanking the Sailors’ Path on its final furlong before Snape Maltings, rank amongst Suffolk’s most inspirational riverside scenery. Experience Sir Benjamin Britten’s ‘Curlew River’, painted in his musical masterpieces and pictured in John Piper’s stained glass window in Aldeburgh Church.

A true cultural hub and centre of learning on the Alde River. Today the complex is home to concerts, events, independent shops, cafés, galleries, walks, boat trips, private homes, self-catering accommodation and the annual Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival. Above all, this the home of the world-renowned Britten Pears Arts organisation and Snape Maltings concert hall.

Brilliant for birdwatching and experiencing the hauntingly fragile and ever-changing world of the River Alde. Transformed by a tidal surge in 2013 from fresh water grazing marsh to salt marsh, Hazlewood Marshes are home to salt-blasted skeleton trees, marsh samphire, wading birds, a truly remote hide and history in spadefuls. Ideal for visiting from the Sailors’ Path between Aldeburgh to Snape.

The UK’s largest, England’s most northerly and last to be constructed – Martello Tower CC  was built to keep Napoleon out. This quatrefoil shaped building stands at the foot of the Orford Ness peninsula, between the River Alde and the sea. It is not possible to visit the interior of the property – unless you choose to stay in it, as it is cared for and let by The Landmark Trust! Its exterior can however be clearly viewed from most sides and at quite close quarters.