The Suffolk Coast AONB: A landscape shaped by Man and Nature, in peace and in power

James Fisher takes a look at the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.

Barges lie on the mud at Pin Mill in Suffolk.
Barges lie on the mud at Pin Mill in Suffolk.
(Image credit: Alamy)

Felixstowe never sleeps, a constant mechanical hum of human excess, container after container being loaded and unloaded, protected by the curving sea defences. In stark contrast is the silence, a few miles north at the mouth of the River Deben, of this AONB, some 170 square miles of estuaries, coasts and communities.

Felixstowe's sea defences.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

This is a landscape defined by the sea, the war and the atom. Victorian Bawdsey Manor is the imposing home where Robert Watson-Watt perfected and then deployed the first radar system, allowing Britain and the RAF to fight back against wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers. Bloodhound missiles, to deter and destroy incoming nuclear bombers of the Soviet Union, remained until 1990.

Britain had nuclear bombers of her own, too, and it was at Orford Ness that the detonators were tested. Looking out over the sandbar spit, now a nature reserve, the ominous shapes of the pagodas loom large, a classical landscape that serves as a warning and a reminder of just how close we came to annihilation. Atoms for war and atoms for peace are here, the cooling towers of the Sizewell reactors looming, producing power for millions in East Anglia.

The abandoned A.W.R.E. nuclear testing site on Orford Ness, Suffolk.
(Image credit: Alamy)

The nuclear age was far from the first military installation in this corner of East Anglia. Orford Castle, built by Henry II in 1165 to consolidate his power in the region, is believed to be of a Byzantine design. Only the central keep remains; legend tells of the Wild Man of Orford, a merman imprisoned there in the 12th century.

As man has sculpted this landscape, so has Nature, with both peace and power. Minsmere, Orford, Westleton and Benacre are reserves that bristle with wildlife, such as the marsh harrier, nightjar and stone curlew.

Heather flowering on Dunwich Heath.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

We have made our own place here, too, at Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Walberswick, Covehithe, Dunwich, Snape and Southwold, peaceful seaside towns, rich in heritage and the Arts, that permit and encourage a slower pace of life.

In Dunwich, there’s a reminder that no matter how strong we think we are, Nature will forever remain stronger — once the capital of East Anglia and comparable to London, storms and the sea washed it away in little over a year in the late 13th century.


The Calstock Viaduct across the River Tamar in Cornwall on a misty late Summer morning.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

The Tamar Valley AONB: Mines, otters and the ghost of a 'black widow' who roams the moors in a carriage of bones

Kate Green focuses on the Tamar Valley AONB.

Aerial shot of the White Cliffs of Dover and the South Foreland lighthouse in Dover, Kent, UK
(Image credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Kent Downs AONB: One of Mother Nature's works of art, from the famous White Cliffs to the wildlife of the Garden of England

Victoria Marston takes a look at the magnificently beautiful Kent Downs AONB.

Low tide landscape of Bosham Harbour with private jetty.
(Image credit: Matt Gibson via Getty)

The Chichester Harbour AONB, a slice of Sussex where nature, beauty and history come together

Rosie Paterson takes in the all-too-often overlooked Chichester Harbour.

James Fisher
Deputy Digital Editor

James Fisher is the Deputy Digital Editor of Country Life. He writes about property, travel, motoring and things that upset him. He lives in London