7 Top Locations for Landscape Photography in Suffolk

Suffolk is a bit of a hidden gem for landscape photographers.

Lacking the classic landscapes or dramatic coastline that draw photographers to many of the more popular areas and without a National Park (although the Broads do stray into the north of the county), it has always flown a little under the radar for landscape photographers.

Typical of East Anglia, the landscape here is gentler. It takes a bit more coaxing to find the compositions and discover its hidden depths, but it is all the more rewarding for that.

Virtually the entire length of the Suffolk coast, where many of my chosen locations lie, is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths National Landscape and is largely natural and unspoilt.

Remote shingle beaches, pounded and shaped by the North Sea, and lonely salt marshes are somewhat bleak at first sight, but in their remoteness and the solitude of the few cottages and fishing boats along the shore lies their charm.

In places, the beaches are edged with cliffs; not the rugged, rocky kind (this is East Anglia after all), but rather golden, sandy limestone that glows softly in the morning sun.

There is relatively little development along the coast, but the colourful beach huts and quirky, eclectic buildings of the seaside towns are as popular with photographers as the wilder beaches.

Inland, the countryside is a patchwork of farmland, lowland heath, and woodland dotted with pretty villages that are as unspoilt as the coast itself.

Just like most of East Anglia, Suffolk is easy to reach, but once here, roads become smaller and getting around a little slower… welcome to Suffolk.

Read more: How to Find Great Locations for Landscape Photography

1. Flatford

Lying in the heart of the Dedham Vale National Landscape, a typically English lowland landscape of fields and cattle-grazed meadows, Flatford is a tiny cluster of thatched cottages built around an 18th-century water mill on the River Stour.

The area was immortalized by the paintings of John Constable, making it famous worldwide and attracting a lot of tourists, but come here out of season or early in the morning, and it is like stepping back in time.

Flatford is easy to explore. Park in the National Trust lot and follow the path past the kiosk, down the hill into the hamlet.

Follow the lane to the end, and you’ll find Flatford Mill and Willie Lott’s Cottage, where The Hay Wain was painted, or cross the bridge and look for reflections of the cottages in the river.

Flatford’s attraction goes beyond the village, though: it lies on perhaps the most picturesque stretch of the River Stour. Beside the bridge, a footpath follows the river, overhung by gnarled and twisted willow trees, as it meanders its way west through ‘Constable Country’ towards Dedham.

There are many views along the two-mile walk, but a good place to start is the area around the footbridge about halfway to Dedham, where interesting groups of trees huddle on both sides of a bend in the river and cattle often come down to drink.

Early morning is the best time to visit when the low-lying valley will usually be shrouded in mist following clear, calm, cool nights, and in winter is prone to sharp frosts.

If you like Flatford, it’s worth exploring the area further as there are similarly timeless views along the River Stour at Bures and Sudbury Water Meadows.

There is also a great spot for a misty morning toward the end of the one-way lane out of Flatford, looking across the valley, you can use a telephoto lens to pick out Dedham Church rising from the mist.

Read more: How to Use Water in Your Landscape Photos

2. Pin Mill

Although only a stone’s throw along the River Orwell from Ipswich, Pin Mill, a colourful hamlet of cottages, houseboats, and boatyards clustered around a 17th-century pub on the south bank of the river, feels a million miles (or perhaps 100 years) away.

The river is a short walk down the hill from the car park. From here, most photographers head to the boat wrecks, but before doing so, it is worth exploring the views of and from the wooden jetty and slipway to the left of the pub.

The challenge here is that the views can be ‘busy,’ so it’s as much about what you leave out of the composition as what you include.

Finding a single interesting boat or a small group of boats to use as foreground interest or use as a focal point, and carefully adjusting your position and focal length to exclude distractions, helps create a sense of order.

To reach the boat wrecks, walk around the foreshore in front of the pub into Pin Mill Woods, and follow the path just past the houseboats that line the river to a graveyard of wrecked boats that are gradually being reclaimed by the river.

These wrecks, being stuck in the mud and thus not moving, make excellent subjects for long exposures, with the blurred clouds and water emphasising the decay of the boats.

Careful composition is required here, as the boats are quite cluttered. The best time to photograph them is at high tide when they are surrounded by water. I prefer to arrive well before high tide, set up, and then wait for the water to come in.

You’ll need wellies, as you have to scramble off the path and wade carefully through the mud to reach the wrecks. At high tide, it may not be possible to return around the front of the pub, in which case there is a shortcut through the pub car park.

Read more: How to Find Balance in Photography Compositions

3. Shingle Street

Shingle Street is little more than a handful of windswept cottages facing the beach along a lane (the name ‘street’ is pushing it somewhat) in an isolated spot on the Suffolk coast. But this tiny, bleak hamlet is a fascinating spot.

The beach here is an expanse of shingle, shaped into a landscape of ridges and valleys over the years by the sea; the shoreline is moulded into ever-shifting lagoons and small islands.

With very few features, it can seem like a difficult place to photograph at first glance, and the changing nature of the place means any specific advice would quickly become outdated.

A white cottage on the beach provides a much-needed focal point, and my advice would be to try building a composition around this, looking for useful leading lines in the shingle ridges or in the curves of the shoreline.

In late spring or early summer, the shingle is covered in wildflowers, making for colourful foreground interest, particularly around the coastguard cottages. First or last light is the best time of day to visit when the low light highlights the contours in the shingle.

As well as being beautiful with the wildflowers in bloom, Shingle Street is a great destination in winter for dramatic, moody weather to capture the vulnerability of the remote cottages under threatening skies.

If you like wildlife photography, short-eared owls can often be seen hunting over the fields and marshes here, so don’t forget your telephoto lens.

Read more: How to Photograph Seascapes

4. Framlingham Castle

Framlingham Castle is a 12th-century castle with two main claims to fame (in no particular order): providing the inspiration for the Ed Sheeran song “Castle on the Hill” and being the site of the crowning of Mary Tudor as the first Queen of England in 1553.

Below the castle lies the Castle Mere, a large lake surrounded by boggy wetlands managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Although there are impressive views over the Suffolk countryside from the castle walls, it is from across the mere that the best photographic opportunities can be found.

There is a small car park on New Road from which you can access a footpath that runs around the lake. It is a small area, easy to explore, and there are fabulous views across the mere towards the castle from all along this path.

You may need to leave the path to get close to the water for reflections, and you will find plenty of foreground interest around the lake.

The reed-lined, meandering streams that feed the lake make excellent curving lead-in lines, particularly in winter when the frozen reeds and clumps of grass rising spikily from the frozen margins have a wonderful sculptural quality.

While it is tempting to use a wide-angle lens to make the most of the foregrounds, it will have the effect of making the castle appear small, so a standard 24–70mm lens may work better.

For much of the year, a small herd of cattle grazes the marshland around the lake, naturally controlling the height of the grass while adding a timeless quality to photographs.

My favourite time of day here is early in the morning, especially in winter on a crisp, frosty morning or on one of the fairly frequent mornings when mist hangs over the lake.

It is also good toward the end of the day, with the castle side lit by warm sunlight. While you’re here, it is worth visiting Saxtead Green windmill, a 5-minute drive northwest of Framlingham.

Read more: 4 Steps to Shoot Beautiful Lakes at Sunrise

5. Aldeburgh

In the Tudor era, Aldeburgh was a thriving port, and the Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake’s historic ship, was built in the boatyards here. These days, it is a rather well-heeled seaside town, but photographers and artists have long found inspiration in the coast here.

Much of Aldeburgh’s charm comes from the unusual mix of buildings dotted along the seafront, from the well-preserved 16th-century Moot Hall to fishing shacks selling the day’s catch.

The shingle beach is strewn with brightly painted fishing boats, both old and new, and all the associated paraphernalia of nets and lobster pots that photographers love.

Look for single boats or small groups that you can isolate for a cleaner composition. A wide-angle lens is great for making the most of the boats against big sunrise skies. In the summer, swathes of red valerian flower along the shingle, adding a splash of colour to the beach.

Try getting down low and framing shots of the boats with the flowers, or shooting through them with a large aperture and longer focal length for out-of-focus colour effects. A short telephoto lens is also useful for picking out details among the piles of colourful fishing gear.

While you are here, 500m north along the beach, you’ll find The Scallop, a 4.6m-high sculpture by Maggi Hambling dedicated to the composer Benjamin Britten (who lived here).

The sculpture divides opinion among residents but continues to attract photographers, and it does look good with evening light revealing the contours of the sculpture.

There is plenty of free parking along the seafront, but it can get very busy. The best time of day is sunrise, so arrive early and park in front of the White Lion Hotel; the beach is just a few steps away.

Read more: Why You Should Use a Telephoto Lens for Landscape Photos

6. Dunwich Heath

Dunwich Heath sits atop crumbling sandstone cliffs overlooking the North Sea below. It’s hard to believe today that this peaceful area once overlooked the capital city of East Anglia and one of the country’s busiest ports.

A combination of storms and hundreds of years of coastal erosion has swept most of Dunwich into the sea, reducing it to a tiny village. Legend has it that during stormy weather, the bells of the town’s eight lost churches can still be heard ringing under the sea.

Photographers are attracted to Dunwich Heath for its stunning display of heather during the summer months.

The heath covers a large area, and it is worth wandering the network of footpaths in search of one of the lone trees dotted around, but the classic view is looking across the heath towards the row of white coastguard cottages gleaming on the clifftops.

There is a National Trust car park behind the cottages (a couple of which are holiday homes if you are looking for a convenient place to stay!). Follow the main path (or any of the paths) across the heath away from the car park, and then look back along it towards the distant cottages.

Dunwich Heath is interesting all year round, particularly for wildlife, but summer is the highlight when the heath is awash with colour from the heather and gorse.

It can get busy though, especially at weekends, so it’s best to visit at dawn or dusk when you may well have the place to yourself, and the light will be better.

Bordering the RSPB Minsmere Nature Reserve, the area is a haven for wildlife, with many rare species to be found, including the Dartford warbler and nightjar. So if wildlife is your thing, it is worth combining the two.

7. Southwold

One of the most easterly points of the British coast (that title goes to Lowestoft, just a few miles north), Southwold is the quintessential English seaside resort with a quirky pier, colourful beach huts, and streets of pretty pastel cottages and tiny pubs.

The pier is a particularly popular spot with photographers. There are good angles from either side, with wooden groynes providing a lead-in from one side and granite boulders providing a foreground from the other. Being on the east coast, either option works well at sunrise.

From this close position, a wide-angle lens is essential, but take care to avoid distortion of the legs of the pier, especially if shooting upwards from a low angle.

This can be corrected in post-processing, but some cropping will inevitably occur as a result, so make sure the shot is wide enough to allow for this.

Experiment with slow shutter speeds of around one to two seconds to blur the water a little and add impact to the foreground. If you like the minimal look, exposures long enough to totally blur the water around the pier are also very effective.

Colourful beach huts line the seafront, but walk along the promenade to the very southern end of the beach, and there is a small row on the edge of the sand dunes, set apart from the others, which is especially photogenic.

Depending on the time of day, these beach huts look good photographed from either side, but I prefer the view looking across the dunes from the back, where, with careful composition (to avoid the buildings to the left), the vibrant huts can be made to look isolated in the wild dunes.

My favourite time to photograph these huts is at a winter sunrise when the first light will hit the dunes and beach huts from the side.

Read more: Long Exposure Photography – Creative Landscapes with a Slow Shutter

In conclusion

Although we have barely scratched the surface, even of the locations featured, hopefully, this article has given you a taste of what Suffolk has to offer and maybe even tempted you to plan a visit and discover it for yourself.