Countless connections - Never-ending stories
Aldeburgh & its Villages
Explore the historic towns and villages around Aldeburgh, from Thorpeness and Orford on the coast to Snape and Leiston inland to discover so many more stories, plus irresistible family attractions and activities.
Aldeburgh is not an island. Its connections with the villages and communities around it are as strong and powerful as its connections with the sea. Rivers, landscapes, history, trade; ideas, visions, personalities all link them together. So too the physical reminders – concrete wartime archaeology still dotting the coast; Slaughden’s whalebone pub sign in Aldeburgh Moot Hall Museum, or the House in the Clouds on the Thorpeness horizon…
Meet the Movers & Shapers
THE RIVER VILLAGES
The lost village of Slaughden
1 mile south of Aldeburgh town centre
Home to Aldeburgh’s yacht stations, Slaughden is now sea, saltings and silted harbourlands. It’s a strange sliver of land between the snaking river Alde and the North Sea. Martello Tower CC is the only old-Slaughden-village survivor left standing.
Ancient Iken
8.5 driving miles west of Aldeburgh – just up river by boat!
A church, the remnants of a Saxon cross, a hauntingly isolated community, best reached by boat or on a (seasonal/ tide-permitting) riverside walk from Iken cliff car park close to Snape Maltings. Iken is on a promontory, but always seems to look like an island, standing its ground in the silting meanders of the Alde.
Snape
5.5 miles west of Aldeburgh
Snape village is at the end of the Sailors’ Path and footpaths from Aldeburgh and has two refreshing and historic village pubs.
The world famous Snape Maltings concert hall is only metres away from the village on the river at Snape Bridge in Tunstall. The Maltings leisure and retail complex, includes a characterful pub. There are also seasonal boat trips operating along the Alde.
VILLAGES & TOWNS OF THE COAST (& Countryside)
Thorpeness
2 miles north of Aldeburgh
A sleepy fishing hamlet called Thorpe, was transformed by Edwardian whimsy into somewhere and something super-extraordinary … Today Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie’s recreation of ‘Merrie Olde England’ is an irresistible destination for family activities and an all-round must-see, just a short walk away up the coast from Aldeburgh.
Enjoy ThorpenessAldringham
6 miles north west of Aldeburgh
A little village just inland from Thorpeness with a history of lost harbourlands, smuggling, windmill connections, micro lights and more. Don’t miss its wonderfully isolated church on the heathland. Head to the delightful tearoom at the old blacksmiths for all the local info, or the low-ceilinged old smugglers’ inn on the crossroads – both much-loved by locals and visitors alike.
Leiston-cum-Sizewell
4.5 miles north of Aldeburgh
A powerhouse of both industrial and green revolutions, Leiston is a Victorian company town constructed around Richard Garretts agricultural engineering works.
Saxmundham
7 miles north west of Aldeburgh
Originally connected to Aldeburgh by the railway, Saxmundham was the transport and commercial hub which made the resort of Aldbeurgh happen.
Minsmere, Eastbridge & Dunwich
8.5 miles north of Aldeburgh
Home of one England’s most awesome RSPB sites, another lost village and so much more.
Orford & Orfordness
11.5 miles south of Aldeburgh
The home of the castle on the coast, of more food indulgences and inspired local producers, as well as the gateway to the haunting shingle spit of Orfordness.
Explore more
Eat, drink, stay … enjoy
