Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB

The Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is an outstanding landscape along the Suffolk and north Essex coast, including the wildlife-rich estuaries of the Stour and Orwell that frame the Shotley peninsula.

Harwich Haven is the best natural harbour on the east coast of England. The very first English settlers to colonise America left Ipswich aboard the ‘Godspeed’ and the ‘Discovery’ with Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in 1607, saying farewell to Suffolk from the river Orwell.

The AONB is 155 square miles of tranquil and unspoilt landscape, considered valuable of being conserved and enhanced for future generations. Within the southern part of the AONB the Shotley peninsula is important for it’s wildlife and vistas, and is an area celebrated by artists, poets and writers.

The Stour and Orwell estuaries contain mudflats and saltmarsh which are a haven for wading birds. Every autumn 40,000 wildfowl and wading birds make an incredible journey to feed and roost here. Migrating birds, such as sandpiper and greenshank, are present in spring and autumn. Drainage dykes inland of the river walls provide a vital habitat for insects, including the Emperor Dragonfly, the largest in the UK.

For those interested in walking and exploring AONB Walk and Cycle Explorers can be downloaded for free from www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org/publications. The long-distant walk route – the Stour & Orwell Walk – is a 42-mile route from Manningtree, around the peninsula via Shotley, to Wherstead and then onwards to Felixstowe.