Date of Visit: July 2024
Overall View
This is a Caravan and Motorhome club members only site. It is situated approximately 3 miles from the market town of Halesworth in the county of Suffolk. It consists of the usual 5 pitches in one field.
Access is recommended from the A12 – please have a look at the Site Arrival Video. It is advisable not to use the A1120 from Stowmarket due to narrow sections, bridges and villages.
Facilities
The CL site has an Elsan disposal point, clean water tap and the usual refuse and recycling facilities by the entrance gate. The gate is kept padlocked with a security code, given to you upon confirmation of booking.
The site is adults only and dog friendly. As it is a working farm, dogs must be kept on leads at all times.
Review of Site Pitch
The field on which the five pitches are placed is entirely laid to grass. There are 5 bollards with the usual electric hook-up, 16 amps. These are placed strategically around the edge of the field so as to maximise the sunshine on each of the pitches.
The field is on a slight slope and this is more notable at the top of the field and as a result ramps may be required. However, although we were on pitch one at the top of the field, we did not require ramps.
Apart from the request to park your van in line with the bollard, you were pretty much free to place your van in whichever direction you chose. There are no lined pitch markers.
The only minor issue we had with the field was that the grass could have been mown shorter as it was quite long.
There are sheep and horses in adjacent fields but did not cause any issues.
We were a little concerned about some reviews which stated that the Rookery was particularly disruptive and noisy. However, these people had visited at the height of the nesting season and this may well have contributed to this. During our week long stay we had little or no noise from the Rookery as the birds had long since fledged.
The site has a good number of way marked pathways which you can access from just outside the site entrance. Providing your dog is on its lead you are free to take some beautiful and peaceful walks across the Suffolk countryside.
There was no Wi-Fi on site, however mobile wise Vodafone reports good outdoor coverage up to 4G, O2 report good indoor and outdoor coverage up to 4G, EE said good up to 4G everywhere with 5G possible outdoors. 3 (Smarty) was poor inside the caravan but the roof mounted puck ensured a good enough signal at 4G for streaming catch-up TV.
TV reception was fine, the aerial needing to by tilted vertical for the best signal.
Out and About
The nearest town is Halesworth, about a 10 minute drive from the site. Here you will find the nearest supermarket – a Co-op with attached café and adjacent petrol station.
Public transport wise, there is a railway station here with trains to Lowestoft and Ipswich. You will find your nearest bus stop from the site in Halesworth too. See HERE for service details
There is a Vet in Halesworth as well.
The nearest caravan and motorhome dealership is Farnham Leisure on the A12 towards Felixstowe. It is possible to acquire most spare parts up to and including a brand new caravan or motor home!
Do and See
The county of Suffolk lies on the East Coast of England pretty much sandwiched between Norfolk to the north and Essex to the South. The county town is Ipswich.
The site we had chosen was pretty central for the whole of the county. It should be noted that there are no official motorways and as a result although distances may be short in length, the time to travel to these destinations can be considerably longer. This should not however put you off from visiting as Suffolk is a beautiful county full of picturesque villages, market towns, characterful pubs and seaside attractions as well.
During our stay we toured around many of the main visitor attractions.
One of our first visits was down to Landguard Point at Felixstowe and you are able to sit and enjoy a delicious cup of coffee or tea, light snacks or something more substantial from a viewing cafe. This allows you to watch Felixstowe container port in full swing as the various cranes weave their magical dance unloading and loading the container ships. I am sure people will have seen these ships on the TV screen however, to see them in relative closeness only serves to remind you just how big they are. Dogs are allowed to sit outside as long as they are on leads and it is accessible with toilets. https://www.viewpointcafe.co.uk/
Suffolk is well known for picturesque villages and we were certainly spoilt for choice when choosing which villages to go and see. Framlingham has a most beautiful Market Square with lots of independent shops, cafes and various other offerings and on the day we visited the weather was particularly warm and a micro bakery and cafe has opened up in what was obviously a former bank, long since closed. We were able to sit outside in some shade and enjoy our refreshments whilst watching the village go about its daily life. https://www.framlingham.com/plan-your-visit
Sizewell nuclear power station is based on the coast near the village of Sizewell. We noted as we were nearing the village in the area in question that there is apparently considerable local opposition to the building of Sizewell C.
Whilst doing some research on places to visit during our stay, we found the East Anglia Transport Museum. It is a few minutes drive from Lowestoft. Parking is available but is severely limited and even more so for blue badge holders. It is however possible to park in the surrounding area and walk into the museum.
You should allow three to four hours to visit the museum. There are the usual cafe facilities and picnic areas should you wish to bring your own lunch. On any particular day that the museum is open you can expect to see at least one trolleybus, a selection of electric trams and a narrow gauge railway to one side. It is also possible to view the non running buses and trams in their sheds. Dogs are allowed in the museum and almost of the buses and trams including the train. Access to the train is good, however it is not the case for the buses and trams.
There are also a selection of shops and workshops set up to reflect the period of time that the museum is based on and there are plenty of notice boards which give you the history out of what you are seeing.
Lowestoft is a typical seaside resort. It has a small pier and the usual attractions. There is ample parking, at cost, behind the promenade. Please note that it appears that in most car parks in Suffolk, blue badge holders will have to pay for parking.
There are shopping areas in the main part of town, with the usual facilities for fuel and supermarket. It’s main claim to fame is that it is the most easterly town in England and has the most easterly railway station.
Shawsgate Vineyard is a small family run vineyard about 20 minutes from the CL. The owners are very hospitable and tours can be booked in advance. They offer mainly white wine due to the climate, however, there are some light red wines available. Ample parking is available.
Southwold & Aldeburgh – These two villages can be easily combined into one visit. They are your typical Suffolk village with a few shops, cafes and restaurants including fish and chip shops. Aldeburgh has a lovely wide high street where the main facilities are. Some lovely cafes for coffee and cake. It was interesting to note that they were all on the sun side of the street, so if you wanted shade – on a particularly hot day, it was in short supply.
Southwold is a seaside village with a large car park at one end of the beach. There is a small pier, free to go on and totally accessible. The bonus of this pier is that one side is in the shade for most of the day – given the high temperatures during our visit, this was most welcome. There is also a lovely café/restaurant near the car park and by the Crazy Golf. It has a large verandah and dogs are most welcome on leads. Good facilities too except the toilets which are outside the building. Public toilets are available near the pier entrance.
Beccles – This is a small town, in two parts, the higher end where most of the shops and services are and the lower part by the River Waveney, about a 10 minute stroll down hill, you pass through some very historic areas, old Maltings factories turned into very smart apartments. At the end of the road, you reach the River and a lovely café with seating outdoors. There is also an information room to one side which proved very helpful with information leaflets etc during our visit. Dogs are allowed to sit outside and are most welcome. Again, there are good facilities and parking for both non and blue badge holders.
Orford Ness & Havergate Island can be seen via a very pleasant boat trip leaving from Orford Quay. The boat will only take up to about 15 passengers and there are no real facilities on the boat however this actually enhances the experience as the boat owner is able to give a very informative but not intrusive commentary and answer questions you may have. It takes about one hour and is dog friendly. Disabled access is quite challenging however I would advise ringing ahead to see what accommodation they are able to do.
https://www.suffolkrivertrips.com
It was quite eerie to see the old and obviously no longer used atomic testing areas of Orford Ness. For ornithologists, Havergate island is a site of scientific interest to ensure that the bird population is protected.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/orford-ness-national-nature-reserve
During our stay we visited the Queens Head pub, Bramfield, about a 15 minute drive from the site. This was a very pleasant pub with a range of craft beers, mainly in cans, although there were a few hand pulled craft beers. There was a good menu and they positively welcome dogs. On one visit a local community travelling theatre group performed Twelve Night in the rear garden which seemed very well supported. Parking is not plentiful and therefore you may have to park on the road nearby. This did not, despite it being very busy, prove problematic.
Snape Maltings. A visit to this attraction comes highly recommended. The old maltings factory, alongside the River Alde was bought by Benjamin Britten in 1967 and part of it has been turned into a concert venue and theatre. In addition to this several of the buildings house shops of various types, the usual range of cafes and they allow dogs on the grounds quite happily. Accessible facilities for all are readily available.
Boat trips are also available from here.
Summary
A lovely, quiet CL in gorgeous countryside. A secure site feeling with helpful hosts. Its location is a good recommendation and indeed the site was fairly busy during our week’s stay. We would return to do more exploring.