Suffolk Coast & Heaths Walk Explorer Guide
The Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB The Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is Snape one of Britain’s finest landscapes. It extends from the Stour estuary in the south to the eastern fringe of Ipswich and north to Kessingland. The AONB covers 403 square kilometres, including wildlife rich wetlands, ancient heaths, windswept shingle beaches and historic towns and villages. Walk Explorer Guide Lowestoft Key to Map Visiting Snape Maltings owestoftBeccles AONB area Ordnance Survey Map No. 212 Key to Map Additional project area Beccles Kessingland (Woodbridge and Saxmundham) AONB area Towns and villages KessingA14lan5d Additional project area A12 Woodland Snape is accessible from the A12 and is Towns and villages A145 Heathland A12 within easy cycling distance of the East Woodland Halesworth HeathlandMain roads Halesworth Southwold Main roads Southwold Suffolk Railway line, which provides Railways/stations River Railways/stations River Blyth a regular service between Lowestoft, Suffolk Coast Path/Stour Blyth Blythburgh A144 Walberswick Suffolk Coastand POrwellath/Stour W alk Blythburgh Walberswick Ipswich and London and Orwell Walk A144 SandlingsSandlings Walk Walk Dunwich Dunwich Snape is also served by local buses: Sailors’ PathSailors’ PathA1120 A1120 You are heYroue are here www.suffolkonboard.com or call Minsmere Minsmere 0845 606 6171 Framlingham FramlinghamSaxmundham Leiston Saxmundham Leiston
Snape Wickham Aldeburgh Market River Alde Snape Wickham Rendlesham Aldeburgh A12 Market River Alde River RendleshamOrford Ore A12 oodbridge Orfordness River Snape Maltings Information Sutton Orford Ore Open daily from 10am, with free parking. Hoo Ipswich Woodbridge North Orfordness 01728 688303 River Sutton A14 Deben Hoo Sea www.snapemaltings.co.uk Bawdsey Ipswich A14 North Snape Walk Explorer Guide has been Trimley St Mary/ A12 River Orwell St Martin River A14 Sea produced with the generous Alton Water Deben A137 Bawdsey Shotley A14 support of Snape Maltings. eli stowe Trimley St Mary/ River Stour River Orwell ManningtreeA12 St Martin Alton Water Harwich Mistley Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB A137 Shotley 01394 445225 Felixstowe River Stour www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org Manningtree Harwich Mistley Enjoy two wonderful Crown copyright. All rights reserved © 2016 Suffolk County Council. walks on the banks Licence number 100023395. Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of the River Alde Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty This leaflet was first produced in 2012 by the Balance Project and part-financed by the European Union through the Interreg IV 2 Seas Cross-Border programme. Original research, text and some images by Simon Peachey, with additional route checking by Mary and Tony Bishop. This edition November 2016, reprinted with minor amendments June 2018.
The River Alde is little more than a stream until it nears Snape Maltings. Here Snape the river becomes tidal and it broadens into a wide estuary. It’s a place of glistening Suffolk Coast & Heaths Walk Explorer Guide mud and open water, filled twice a day by the incoming tide and rich in wildlife.
Highlights of Snape 3 The Higher Ground on either side of the river is part of the Sandlings plateau, a narrow band of light, sandy soil that runs roughly north-south from Southwold to the eastern fringe 1 complex and The Snape Maltings of Ipswich. Originally the land around the river would have been the village of Snape are an ideal base from woodland, but its use by people over thousands of years has led which to explore this fascinating area, which A to the more varied landscape we see today. The sandy soils were is part of the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area unsuitable for intensive agriculture, so sheep grazing dominated of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). for many centuries. This led to the development of large expanses Snape Walk Explorer Guide consists of two of heathland, a landscape of grassland, scattered trees and heather trails, taking in the river, Snape village and through which huge flocks of sheep roamed. Over the last century, the Alde valley. Both trails start from Snape modern farming methods, forestry and the growth of towns and Maltings. The Maltings was built in the mid- villages have brought change and much of the area’s heath has been 19th century and was once one of the largest lost. Fortunately, fragments survive in the Alde valley and elsewhere barley maltings in Suffolk. It was located in the AONB, and conservation organisations are working together at the head of the estuary as barges were B to increase it. able to navigate as far as Snape, providing easy transportation in an era before road transport. Since its closure as a maltings in 4 The Land in the Valley Floor has always been more fertile 1965, the site has developed into than the higher ground above it. In places, land has been claimed a unique art, leisure and from the river for cultivation and grazing. Some of the walls shopping complex. protecting these areas were destroyed by the infamous 1953 flood. The remains of these defences still reach out into the estuary. The River flows through a wide, barely discernible valley. The countryside here is 5 The Alde Estuary is vitally important for wildlife, in particular, highly characteristic of the AONB, an intimate migratory wading birds and wildfowl. It is a Site of Special Scientific mosaic of wetland, woodland, farmland and Interest (SSSI) and, because of its international significance, a Special heath that makes the area so special and Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar wetland site. Many of the species deservedly recognised as one of Britain’s for which it is important can be seen from the Snape Explorer trails. finest landscapes. Signs of habitation By visiting at different times of the year, you can enjoy a wonderful around the River Alde date back to at wildlife spectacle that changes with the passing seasons. least Roman times. Today, Snape village remains a thriving rural community whilst Images: Front cover – Snape Maltings © Gill Moon – www.gillmoon.com. A. Sign Snape Maltings is an excellent example of post on the Sailors’ Path. B. Avocet – found an enterprising business flourishing within a in large numbers on the Alde during the winter. C. Otter – an elusive resident of the protected landscape. marshes and creeks © Robin Chittenden/FLPA.
Printed on Recycled, FSC, ECF, Carbon Balanced paper. Snape Walk Explorer includes two trails, one to the north of the River Snape Alde and one to the south. Look out for information boards at Snape Suffolk Coast & Heaths Walk Explorer GuideSailors’ Path Maltings, Snape Warren and Iken picnic site that accompany this leaflet. Cottages Crown copyright. All rights reserved © 2016 Suffolk County Council. Licence number 100023395.
Snape Black Heath A1094 Wood Ash Covert B1069 Snape Black Heath Warren