Gentry's intrepid travelling man explores the delights of the Suffolk Coast. All is as it seems, reassuringly… 

Now that summer’s gone (as if it were ever here), it’s time to start planning weekends away. The great London conundrum is: how far do you have to go in order to feel properly out of London? Some say as far as the Welsh hills; a wizened old hag once suggested the Highlands. We’re more optimistic. Head out east on the A12 and in a quick couple of hours (driving fast), you come to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast.

Okay, Aldeburgh isn’t exactly an undiscovered gem – the Aldeburgh music festival is internationally renowned and weekending Islingtonians, too lazy to go all the way to Southwold, have been annoying locals up there for years. Still, go out of season, when the Upper Street to Aldeburgh High Street ratio is in check, and you won’t be disappointed..

Forget about B&Bs and avoid the couple of perfectly fine, but a little overpriced, hotels of the kind only found in British seaside towns. Opt instead for your own bijou self-catering cottage. We  once spent a quiet November week in Aldeburgh Cottage (located mere steps from a jaunty little boozer, the White Hart Inn), hired from the enormously helpful people at Best of Suffolk.

While in Aldeburgh, we’d recommend doing very little. No National Trust properties beckon, not really any sites to see. Instead, do this:

WALK: One reason we like Suffolk is that it’s flat. Some people prefer peaks and valleys, but we like flat marshy expanses with a wide open sky. Head north up the beach for a mile or so until you come to that slightly weird Edwardian beach haven, Thorpeness. Not much to do there, other than get spooked out by the garden-city-on-the-sea look of the place, but it’s worth a poke around. Or, walk south to the end of Aldeburgh’s High Street and light out across the marshes. If you make it as far as Snape, there are a couple of superb pubs to greet you – the Crown Inn and the Golden Key.

EAT: Fish, and lots of it. If you choose to cook yourself, hang around the seafront and waiting for the local salty dogs in their fishing boats to come in. Fish doesn’t come fresher than that. If you prefer your fish cooked for you, The Lighthouse and the Regatta, both on the High Street, will treat you right. For the best local fish and chips, go to the Golden Galleon or Aldeburgh Fish and Chips (same owners) and eat on them on the pebbly beach at sunset. The deli of choice in Aldeburgh is Lawson’s – fine cheeses, olives and everything else you’d expect from a well appointed posh nosh provider.

READ: Go to the Aldeburgh Book Shop and buy lots. It’s the sort of place that makes you weep afresh for the loss of smart independent book shops. None of that ‘3 for the price of 2’ nonsense being peddled by the big chains. The Independent thinks it’s the 4th best bookshop in the whole of Britain, which means numbers 1-3 must be something special.

If Aldeburgh is too big a place for you (that is, if one High Street is one High Street too many), then you might spend your weekend in Orford, a few miles south, instead. If you need something a little bigger, there’s always Southwold north along the coast.

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