Our guide to luxury Suffolk holidays

Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk, and one of England’s oldest. Over 1,000 years of maritime and agricultural history shroud the town in myth and legend from eras that stretch from the Vikings to the Saxons. Foodie hotspots are beginning to pop up all over, from French fine dining aboard an 18th-century Dutch barge to bistros serving up dishes of tangy bacon and courgette tagliatelle. Indy theatres are also popular with the locals, with live music, comedy and even dinner dances all running every week.

Suffolk’s wide, flat landscape and temperate weather keep agriculture booming, providing fresh, local produce in abundance. Butchers, breweries, fishing boats, independent bakeries; Suffolk is all about simple food, done extremely well. A visit to one of the county’s many artisan bakeries to pick up a loaf of freshly baked sourdough is a must. In the 19th century there were over 500 grain windmills peppered across the land, its rich milling history leaving a floury fingerprint on the county ever since, with baker’s ovens firing up ever since. Suffolk’s rich, light soil also makes for perfect pig pastures, seen dotted among pink cob cottages and wildflower meadows all over. As such, sausages and bacon are among the best in the UK. The county is also famed for its breweries; Adnams, Greene King and Aspalls are the biggest, but you’ll find pint-sized breweries hidden in every other town too.

Once a thriving port town the size of London’s square mile, Dunwich was home to over 3,000 residents in 1086. Built on fishing, trade and religious patronage, it was almost the capital of East Anglia. Alas, in 1286 a huge storm swept away its monastery, many homes and much of the port. Coastal erosion continued to bury the bustling town underwater, with the ‘new’ rebuilt 13th-century monastery now the only remaining remnants of its past, and standing perilously close to the cliffs. Today, many say this lost city is England’s answer to Atlantis – you can still stay in the modern one-street village above, its tiny B&B welcoming visitors all year round. If you listen carefully, many people say you can hear the bells of lost churches ringing underwater in the storms.

Far from the crowds, with the North Sea lapping at its shores, Suffolk is full of seaside charm and a mixture of flat, wide sand and shingle beaches. The water is warm enough in the summer for a little dip, with plenty of space for the children to run around and dry off. Shingle Street is a quiet and deserted shingle beach that seems almost untouched, once commandeered as a defensive minefield in WW2 (long since cleared). A short hike over the marshes and the reward is a coastal refuge packed with wildlife. Lined with tiny beach huts, South Beach in Lowestoft offers golden sand for family sandcastle competitions, whilst The Denes Beach at Southwold is a wide, dog-friendly beach popular with kite surfers. And there are plenty more:

Felixstowe Beach – sand, shingle and pebbles for four miles as the sun rises.

Walberswick Beach – unspoilt sand and low-lying dunes.

Dunwich Heath Beach – backed by rich heather and gorse in vibrant pink.

Aldeburgh Beach – pastel-coloured houses right on the shingle bring seaside charm.

Yes. Wide, sandy and hot property among the seal population, you’ll spot these sea creatures lazing on the shoreline at Southwold and Walberswick beaches from June to August. As part of the Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve, these beaches are prime spots for seal watching, at land or at sea in a local barge. If you’re prepared to brave the cold during winter, you’ll also catch the pupping season here from November to January.