Aldeburgh Adventure: June 2025

It’s been a while since I posted; we’ve been on holiday exploring the beautiful Suffolk coast.

We spent the first 2 nights in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire at the Bosworth Caravan Park. Our plans to explore the area and the site of the battle of Bosworth were cancelled by the scorching hot weather. Pepper, despite her fresh haircut, was wilting in the 30’C heat, so we spent the day sunbathing next to the van whilst she reclined on her cool mat. Fabulous musical entertainment was provided all day by the local music festival, just visible over the hedge and a relaxing day was had by all!

On Sunday we headed to Aldeburgh, a beautiful costal town in East Suffolk.

Home to Bill Nighy (we didn’t see him) and Benjamin Brittain (nor him; long deceased!) the town and surrounding area was bright, colourful and littered with huge hollyhocks which were growing from every patch of grass and through the tarmac.

We stayed at Church Farm Holiday park, which backed onto the Haven Nature Reserve, home to a multitude of wetland wildlife.

The local deer population were Muntjac, also known as “barking deer”. They lived up to this name by being active most of the night, driving Pepper mad by barking behind the van, keeping us all awake! Muntjac are an invasive species of deer, originally from the South East Asia, whose roots across the UK can all be traced to those which escaped from Woburn Abbey around 1925.

If they became too irritating, you could get your own back at the Sea Spice Indian restaurant, where they served Muntjac Vindaloo!

https://seaspice.co.uk/

On Tuesday, we look a long walk around the nature reserve, eager to see the promised Spoonbills, Storks and Marsh Harriers… the result being a fail on all counts!

However, hobbies were active across the marshes, diving to catch the huge dragonflies.

Butterflies and moths were prolific; a few of which paused for a photograph.

The walk took us alongside the golf club and house in the clouds; a former water tower which was turned into a residence. It is now holiday homes if you fancy a room with a view:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_in_the_Clouds

There were many signs warning of adders, but we did not encounter any this time!

However we did encounter danger of a different sort; the hogweed was immense! This one was at least 10 feet tall, and had many siblings around it!

We paused for lunch at the Kitchen cafe in Thorpeness, a ploughman’s on both sides of the table, before continuing back along the costal path towards home, stopping periodically at the viewing platforms to look across the marshes.

Some excitement was generated by a bird hiding in the long grass… a water rail?! Pictures were taken and examined; sadly, it was a redshank. Nice, but common!

Back at the van, we were visited by a caterpillar from the Puss Moth.

This beautiful creature was much admired by Pepper who wanted desperately to play with it. We moved it to a safer location but she refused to believe it was gone and cried pitifully for the loss of her friend! (You’ll need the Sound on to appreciate the full distress!)

Pepper sulking!

To finish the day, a fresh lobster was foraged from one of the many fisherman’s huts on the promenade.

Served back at the van with jersey royal potatoes, a crisp salad and a few cold beers, it rounded off a wonderful day was had by all.

We awoke to a brief rain shower on Wednesday morning, before the day turned once again hot, with a slight breeze off the North Sea. We spent the afternoon wandering around the beautiful town, sampling the local hostelries before collecting a chippy tea from the famous Golden Galleon.

In the evening, I wandered up to some of the viewing platforms across the marshes to see if any of the famous residents showed up. The Merlin app told me that reed warblers were in the grass, but whilst they entertained me with their voices, they did not show above the tall Reeds. But the other birds were less shy and I captured 2 firsts for me; linnets and whitethroats!