There is a lovely nature reserve that you can walk to from The Old Forge, it starts in the field behind the village and goes for miles along the river Valley, it is a lovely quiet place with all kinds of surprising plant life and birds, There were lots of orchids there when I took these photos in June 2008...

The South Suffolk Cycle route passes right in front of the door and bicycles are provided.

There is a really great Modern Jazz venue which is based at Stoke by Nayland Hotel. They have sessions every Friday at 8.30.

There are many really lovely walks all around which usually end at an excellent pub and there are very good Gastro Pubs and restaurants scattered all over the area.

The outstanding feature of this area is that it is so very rural and pretty with tiny medieval hamlets and small villages dotted along a spiderweb of single track lanes that even the locals get lost in, it really is amazing that this beautiful region is just an hour and a half from London.

Please check out my 'Insiders Guide' to this area which is on the front page or click this link... www.grove-cottages.com   


Below is a recent article about the Suffolk Coast

Joanna Symons, Telegraph Travel Newspaper January 2nd 2010.

'Popular though the Lake District and West Country are as tourist destinations, they can be rather damp. If you want to reduce the risk of a rainy holiday, statistics show that you should head east.

Suffolk for instance, had only about a third as much rainfall as the Lake District last summer. It also happens to have one of the loveliest stretches of coastline in Britain.



The Met office regional statistics per annum.

                        The Lake District             Suffolk

Rain fall         2300 - 3900mm          600 - 660 mm