A taste of the Walberswick area

Walberswick and its near neighbour Southwold are located to the south and north (respectively) of a manmade inlet, fed by the Rivers Blythe and Dunwich, which once served as a harbour for the Sole Bay fishing fleet and now is a popular mooring for pleasure craft. By using the ferry or the narrow bridge the two settlements are within walking distance but Walberswick and Southwold are about ten miles apart by road, because of the need to drive around the channel and surrounding marshland (much of which is a nature reserve) with Blytheburgh at its head. Although Southwold is now the largest of the communities around this area of salt marsh, because of the way that the coast has altered over recent centuries, Dunwich was once a major Medieval port and then Blytheburgh became the principal settlement. Much of the coastal land between Walberwick and Aldburgh (famous for the music festival founded by Benjamin Britten), to the south, is owned or managed by either the National Trust (such as Dunwich Heath) or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - such as Minsmere.

Looking into Southwold Harbour with the ferry crossing in the foreground	The Harbour mouth with the new harbourmasters’ building to the left of the picture
The Old Harbourmasters’ house on the Walberswick side of the inlet	House and Windmill overlooking Common and Nature Reserve
The Bell Inn, which is on high ground on the Walberswick side of the harbour, overlooking the marshes and the sea, seen here from its garden	The Bell and its surrounding cottages at dusk
The Church of St Andrew, Walberwick, surrounded by the ruins of a larger medieval religious buildings	A listed cottage in Walberswick, one of many interesting buildings in the village and the small township of Southwold
Southwold seen from Walberswick Common. Avocets, Oystercatchers and Gulls can be seen feeding in the foreground	Southwold seen from the beach, with its colourful beach huts, lighthouse and pier
Walberswick from Gun Hill, Souhwold	The Duke of Cumberland’s Guns on Gun Hill
Blytheburgh Church – the Cathedral of the Marshes – a giant church serving what is now a small community	Priory Cottage, Blytheburgh which is at the head of the estuary leading to Southwold and Walberswick
One of the wooden hides at the RSPB reserve, Minsmere	A stile on National Trust land at Dunwich Heath
The ancient Moot House at Aldburgh once stood in the middle of the town but coastal erosion means that is now on the seafront	The 'House in the Clouds' and 'Windmill' are two features of Thorpeness, which is largely a holiday village created in the early twentieth century

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