About the Walk

The accuracy of distances and times are questionable so please check everything on t’internet or even a real life map (!) before you set off.

• Distance: 8 km (according to Strava)
• Time taken: 1 hr 40 mins
• Time of year walked: early July (it was warm but grey!)

This is a circular walk with a perfect pit stop half way if you need it. Had James been with me I'm sure there would be a bird list and maybe even a booming Bittern, us girls however were too busy talking. When Prue and I first met, we spent our days pushing our babies in prams around Snape. 14 years later and with the kids all at school, we now walk Roxy instead.

There are various parking options nearby and depending on the time of year we'll leave it with you to find a space! Of course you could park in Thorpeness and start/finish there too.

From May-September dogs are only allowed on certain parts of the beach so it's worth checking before you let them off (www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk).

Part One - North from Aldeburgh

What better place to start this dog walk than at the Statue of Snooks by the boat pond. Snooks belonged to Doctors Nora and Robin Acheson who served the Aldeburgh community from 1931 to 1959. Their dog Snooks often joined them on their visits. The statue that stands by the boat pond today is actually an exact replica of the original after it was stolen in 2003. Ten years later the original statue was recovered and was given to Aldeburgh Hospital where it now sits in the garden.

There's a great little coffee and ice cream hut, Libardi's, next to the boat pond if you need a drink before you start. There are public loos there too.

From here you walk north past the Moot Hall, home of the Aldeburgh Museum (as an aside they produce a booklet of Aldeburgh walks and Roxy and I hope to do one of those soon). Basically you follow the path all the way to Thorpeness, it really couldn't be easier, just keep the sea on your right. On the way there you'll pass Maggi Hambling's iconic Scallop which was installed in 2003. If you look ahead in the distance you'll see Thorpeness and if it's clear you should be able to spot the House in the Clouds, you'll walk past that later.

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Part Two - Thorpeness

As we reached the houses on the beach at Thorpeness we saw the stone cairn. It was made this year from local coralline crag stone by Henry Fletcher who lives in Thorpeness and studies and writes about ecology. It will eventually be reclaimed by the sea so it's worth a visit while it's still there.

From the cairn we walked along the beach until we got to the boardwalk which takes you to the entrance of the Thorpeness Emporium - a treasure trove of vintage gems. On the other side is The Kitchen, one of my favourite places for brunch but opposite that is The Meare Tea Rooms if you fancy watching the people out on the boats while you eat.

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If you haven't taken a boat out on the Meare before I highly recommend it - great fun for young and old alike. Opened in 1913, there's over 40 acres of water but it's never deeper than 3ft! Find out more at: https://thorpenessmeare.com/ (or better still if you see the Head Boatman Craig he'll tell you some good stories about the history of the place!).

Right, back to the walk! Walk round the Meare and continue along The Haven - this stretch of houses were some of the first to appear between 1911-1914 when Thorpeness was built from scratch as the perfect holiday village. Turn left into Uplands Road where you will walk past the famous House in the Clouds, once a well disguised water tower but now a very unique holiday let! You'll then pass the windmill which used to pump water to the tower.

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The end of this road brings you to the Thorpeness Golf Club & Hotel. If you need to bribe children on this walk there is a miniature golf course on the water's edge - clubs available at reception, there's a bar too.

Part Three - The Old Railway Line back to Aldeburgh

There's a narrow footpath next to the green (it's signposted) with the Golf Club & Hotel buildings on your left. Look out for low flying golf balls. Follow this path until you get to Sheepwash Crossing at the RSPB North Warren Nature Reserve. From this sign we took the path to the left which takes you down the Old Railway Line - the station at Thorpeness was open from 1914-1966.

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At the end of the Old Railway Line (where there was a handy dog poo bin!) we took a path to the left and walked through the very well maintained Church Farm Holiday Park. As you exit you'll see that you're on the sea front once more and you can head back to the boat pond (make sure you stop for some fresh fish from one of the huts if you need something for supper!).

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We really enjoyed this walk, it was longer than we thought but that gave us more time to catch up so there were definitely no complaints. Roxy had a great time too.

I've just found the Suffolk Coasts & Heaths Walking Guide which does a much better job of exact directions etc so take a look at that for more info. They've also added on an extra bit in Aldeburgh to include the south end of the town.

Here's a shameless plug - we were both wearing Women's Merrell Antora's which I've lived in for dog walks this spring/summer - they're extremely light for a Gore Tex trainer. Prue has the black ones from last year, I have this year's spring colour but we've just had a new delivery of styles for AW21 - take a look at our Merrell collection here >