Suffolk Pinks & Seaside Greens

Colourful stuff
Head through the lanes to historic Debenham’s lines of pastel cottages and half-timbered houses, before reaching Saxtead Green where a beautifully restored 18th century post mill sits proudly alongside the huge village green.
A fine redbrick Victorian college is in view from the 12th century curtain wall of the castle at nearby Framlingham. The ancient mere here is a refreshing site, so too the vineyard just up the road!  More scatterings of pink cottages feature on the way to Peasenhall where history lines the street before reaching the wide greens of Westleton, the characterful village close to the heathy coast of Dunwich and home for the next two nights.

Choose to pedal along to the renowned RSPB reserve at Minsmere in the evening or early morning if you wish, leave it for a short detour on your final day.

Mileage: Rec 38 Min 36 Max 44

Head inland to start the day with an optional visit to Halesworth, an up-and-coming ‘arty’ favourite and a delightful market town with plenty of history on offer. Then it’s time to clock up another post mill at Holton en route to Southwold, home of refined greens, white lighthouse, tasteful pier and oh-so-Suffolk brewery delights. Sip a well deserved pint, drinking in the nostalgic atmosphere, or lean up your bike against a canon on Gun Hill perhaps, look out to sea and share more sobering thoughts about the Battle of Sole Bay. Retail therapy, great restaurants, places to wander and ponder – Southwold has it all.
Across the creek and on through the fishing village of Walberswick there are church ruins to discover even before you reach Dunwich and its haunting monastery fragments clinging to the clifftops. The heritage coastline here is unspoilt with wide swathes of heathland sweeping back down to your accommodation destination, Westleton.

Mileage: Rec 34 Min 27 Max 34

Early birds might like to catch a quick detour to the extensive wetlands of Minsmere before steering inland for the day’s colourful return to Needham Market.

There are abbey ruins to visit near Leiston and a stop by the famous concert hall complex at Snape Maltings is a must. Enjoy the views across the marshy creeklands of the River Alde, refresh with a pint or spot of retail therapy, then let the villages unfurl as you wheel across the Suffolk countryside passing historic churches and whizzing through the occasional watersplash en route to Needham Market.

Mileage: Rec 38 Min 38 Max 40