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The Broads, the Coast and the Countryside
 Although part of East Anglia and close to the Norfolk border,
the area is not 'very flat' as once described by Noel Coward but
is gently rolling with some wide flood plains leading to the coast
and beaches, some with full holiday facilities and others much more wild and remote.  The Broads, a network of navigable lakes and rivers
reaches to the Northern boundary of the area with one of the most attractive,
Oulton Broad.  Local agriculture is mixed with both arable and livestock and
so as well as fields of sugar beet, vegetables, oil-seed rape, wheat
and barley there are also the traditional sights of lambs in the
Spring and cows grazing in the fields and this fine example of a
tithe barn at Herringfleet is a good indication of a once prosperous
rural community.
 Some of the land is fairly low-lying and needs draining, the
evidence of which is the number of 'windmills' dotted about the
landscape, not really windmills but windpumps, and some areas of
wetland have been preserved as a natural habitat and refuge for
local and migratory wildlife.
 Features peculiar to the area include
'Suffolk Pink', a colour open to a fairly wide interpretation
from a light rosy-pink to pale brownish-red on the rendering of many of the older cottages.
Also look out for 'pargetting', a decorative
design impressed into the plaster rendering of some
of them, more common in the south of the county
but we have a number of examples.
 Flint was a commonly used local building
material and many of the older buildings and walls
will have flint facings. The round towers of
many of our village churches is another East Anglian feature,
with very few examples in the remainder of the British
Isles.
Maritime Heritage
 The economy was once mainly agricultural with some seasonal fishing
and the local towns of Southwold, Halesworth, Bungay and Beccles
still show this rural affluence with much Georgian and some Tudor
architecture
in evidence. The area was greatly  influenced by the fishing industry
of the 19th and early 20th centuries and with the coming of the
railway, especially to Lowestoft, when access to new markets provided
an economic boost. These markets have now declined but the movement
of population to the town has remained, supported now mainly by
light industry.
 The maritime heritage of the area in considerable. Southwold
has the traditional  lighthouse dominating the old town and a recently
re-furbished pier, local longshore fishing boats still populate
the Blyth estuary, the museum in the Sailors Reading Room records
the historical past including the Battle of Sole Bay and a battery
of cannon still faces out to sea from Gun Hill.
 Lowestoft had always had a fishing industry, boats being launched
from the beach until the middle of the 19th century when the harbour
was developed by Samuel Morton Peto. This was just in time for the
boom in the industry with the demand for herring now able
to be satisfied via the new distribution network of the railways,
as well as the harbour opening up the potential for trade with the European
continent.
World Wars 1914-18 and 1939-45
Lowestoft's maritime connections must have brought it to the
attention of Germany in WW1. Although the old cannon battery had
been buried underground it seems that Lowestoft was regarded as
a legitimate military target and it was one of a number of East
Coast towns that came under bombardment by the German High Seas
Fleet in 1916.
The armed forces influence on the area during WW2
were far greater. As well as anti-invasion defences manned by units
of the regular Army as well as the Home Guard, Lowestoft was host to five Naval bases.
Later in the war the area surrounded
by many new airfields including ones at Beccles (Ellough), Bungay
(Flixton) and Halesworth (Holton) Ellough,
as the US forces moved into East  Anglia.
The headquarters of the
Royal Naval Patrol Service, a branch of the Royal Navy consisting
of 70,000 men and 6,000 ships during the war years was in HMS Europa
at Sparrow's Nest Gardens. The town also has a port naval establishment
(HMS Minos), a coastal forces base (HMS Mantis), a minesweeping
base (HMS Martello) and a landing craft training establishment (HMS
Myloden).
 Being within the potential invasion area there were Royal Artillery
manned coastal fortifications and later in the war, as armaments
became more plentiful, several anti-aircraft posts. Much of this
wartime heritage is recorded in the Royal Naval Patrol Service war
Memorial Museums, both situated in Sparrow's Nest Gardens. The main
Lowestoft Museum which covers these and many other aspects of the
town's history is in Broad House, Nicholas Everitt Park, Oulton
Broad.
 The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton, near Bungay
incorporates the 446th Bomb Group Museum, the Royal Observer Corps
Museum and RAF Bomber Command Museum as well as having a collection
of 25 historic aircraft.
Cultural and Industrial Heritage
The Lowestoft Museum (mentioned above) is the home to one of the
highlights of Lowestoft's cultural heritage, the town's collection
of Lowestoft Porcelain. For about 40 years at the end of the 18th
century a factory at Lowestoft produced some of the finest blue
and white, and later polychrome, porcelain which is much sought
after today.
 Another local industry, now also lost, is commemorated indirectly
at the East Anglian Transport Museum at Carlton Colville which has
a working collection of buses, trams and trolleybuses. Manned entirely
by volunteers it includes some of the output of the town's Eastern
Coach Works which produced bodies for buses that were sent all
over the world.
 Lowestoft's Maritime Heritage Museum in Sparrow's Nest gardens
records the major industry of the area, that of fishing, boat building
and all the support services such as net-making, barrel-making,
etc. that went with this major industry.
 Cultural heritage must also include some famous names from the
arts. Charles Dickens 'David Copperfield' was born in the village of
'Blunderstone' (sic) and the present day Plough Inn is said to be
from where David set out for London with 'Barkis the Carrier'. The
authors George Borrow (Romany Rye, etc) and H. Rider Haggard (King
Solomon's Mines, etc) were both local residents, the former at Oulton
Broad and the latter at Ditchingham, near Bungay, and Edward FitzGerald, the translator
of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam
was a visitor to Lowestoft from his home at Woodbridge.
Benjamin Britten, the composer and one of the founders of the
Aldeburgh Festival was born in Kirkley Cliff at Lowestoft. He attended
the same school in Lowestoft as Edward Seago, the artist who received further artistic tuition at Walberswick, an attractive coastal
village just beyond our Southern boundary, and whose work is now much sought
after.
Houses and Historic remains
 The developer of Lowestoft harbour Samuel Morton
Peto rebuilt our local stately home, Somerleyton Hall, on the site
of an earlier Jacobean house in the mid 19th century. The house
was bought by the Crossley family in 1863 and in 1916 Sir Savile
Crossley was created Baron Somerleyton. The Somerleyton family have
lived there since but parts of the house are open to the public, from Easter to late September
each year, and also open are some 12 acres of gardens including a maze.
 Parts of the Roman fort of Gariannonum at Burgh Castle are still standing
as they still guard the estuary of the River Waveney. The remains
of 12th century Bigod Castle are to be found in the centre of Bungay
and at Herringfleet the undercroft and brick vaulted ceiling of
the 14th century St. Olave's Priory are still visible.
 There are many other castles, houses and ancient monuments just
outside our boundary, listed at the end of this description, including
the Martello Tower at Aldeburgh, the 11th Century castle
at Framlingham, Roman remains at Caister-on-Sea, etc.
Parks and Family Amusements
 One of the biggest visitor attractions of the region is Pleasurewood
Hills Leisure Park at Corton, just north of Lowestoft where for
the once only cost of entrance a variety of thrill rides and family
attractions can be enjoyed.
In Lowestoft at the East Point Pavilion, the Mayhem Adventure
Play Area should be able to exhaust most children and there is a
12 hole Mini Golf next door. At Kessingland is Africa Alive!, where
you can experience the 'Plains of the Savannah' and
the 'Kingdom of the Lion'. For those of a more nervous
disposition there is Pets' Corner at Nicholas Everitt Park, Oulton
Broad.
 The Otter Trust at Earsham, just outside Bungay, is a breeding
centre for otters before they are released and returned to the wild
and provides a chance to see otters at play in their large natural
enclosures.
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 The above is an attempt to give you a brief sample of the attractions
for the visitor to North-East Suffolk. The attractions of an area,
however, are not limited to those actually in that area but extend
to those easily accessible but which may be outside the strict geographical
boundary. Below is a list of many of the places mentioned above with
some more just outside the boundary of Waveney District:
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