5 From Beaches … LOWESTOFT MAPS, WALKS & INFO Whether you want to be king of the sand- castle, ace of seaside spades or just enjoy some DISCOVER LOWESTOFT traditional downtime in the deckchair, Lowestoft’s brilliant collection of award-winning Fa Golden sands, glorious green spaces & history all around beaches has something for everyone. Feel the mil LOWESTOFT Edged by brilliant award-winning beaches, the Broads National Park and an super-soft, golden sand between your toes on Ga y M South Beach by the piers, alongside the colourful cabins at its F Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the north Suffolk home of Britain’s most a t un Victoria Beach ri E e easterly resort really is an all-round breath of fresh air. , or stroll south to discover the rural calm and ngl t w im curvaceous charm of the boat-dotted beach at * The Guide to Pocket a Enjoy bucket-loads of traditional seaside fun. Ride rollercoasters. Meet Pakefield T . a y t e Similar to o Corton/Gunton Sands n north of town, its vegetated meerkats. Go time-travelling on vintage vehicles. Explore architectural gems and w d H o sand and shingle-scapes seem worlds away from the gentle 1920s ’ s n t ancient alleyways. Taste fresh fish and chips. Savour quiet moments by Morton i s M h t elegance of Kensington Gardens back around the Kirkley Cliff corner. & o Peto’s historic Lowestoft quayside. Watch boats by Oulton Broad, or the birds by e os r Further south sand-dune and shingle stretches at Co B y the marshes maybe? Discover the elegant tranquillity of Lowestoft’s heritage Kessingland seem wilder t r & still, home to yellow sea poppies, sea peas and nesting Little terns. oads Eas un parks and enjoy the buzz of its newer ones too - like The Ness, the UK’s most Seas t easterly park, a celebration of Lowestoft’s maritime past. Find a thatched church To The Broads t r e y W Na rl beyond the Pakefield prom and skylarks singing above the beach at Kessingland. i Inland by the River Waveney, there’s another watery world waiting to be explored. Just de y Well, I never did. So why not now? t a Reso a train stop, short drive, bus or bike ride - or even a walk away (see overleaf) - from i o lk He n Lowestoft’s award-winning beaches, s Oulton Broad a A Superlative Spot is the area’s largest shallow lake & ri l r created by medieval folk digging out peat for fuel. Gateway to the t A Pa t Broads National Park a Home, sweet home to it’s a paradise for boat-lovers and wildlife too. , g c rk e t Ness Point - England’s most easterly tip i • v i t • Gulliver (126m), amongst UK’s tallest on-shore wind turbines i MENU es From Kippers… Oulton Broad, the largest shallow lake in The Broads • Fresh Fish & Chips There’s been something fishy about the • One of the UK’s oldest lifeboat stations (1801) Catch of the Day Lowestoft coast for centuries. Kessingland World’s oldest motorboat racing venue Artisan-smoked • was once one of the richest sea-ports in Red Herring (Oulton Broad 1903) Suffolk and clifftop old Lowestoft had an • Bloaters Stay This Way … • Britain’s oldest established coastal entire beach village full of fisherfolk below • Kippers lighthouse still in use its High Street, reached by steep alleys called • Buckling Traditional hospitality at seafront hotels and ‘scores’. The thriving Victorian port saw steam- guesthouses; beachside camping and caravan parks . ❷ ❶ drifters land great catches of herring which were full of family fun and games; self-catering cottages; smoked, pickled or packed in barrels and soon shipped out again by boats on the broads; chalet parks and historic pubs; . ❸ ❹ the new-fangled railway. Today you’ll still find fishing boats as well B&Bs in town, on the farm and even a boutique as pleasure cruisers, bobbing about Lowestoft’s harbours and some hotel or two. There are so many ways to stay and local artisans, proud to preserve traditions, amidst the last remaining enjoy Lowestoft. Which will you choose? net-racks, -stores and smoke houses on The Ness. GETTING AROUND To Big-dippers By Road: A12 (Ipswich), A47 (Great Fancy whizzing down into the watersplash or enjoying the family fun of the Yarmouth/Norwich), A146 (Beccles/Norwich) Key . fair? Pleasurewood Hills landscaped theme park will surely be right up your By Bus: suffolkonboard.com ❺ North Lowestoft street. The seafront boasts mini-rides, jolly seaside arcades By Rail: East Suffolk Line (Lowestoft) ❶ Sparrow’s Nest Park (1897) and attractions too, but in its infancy, the resort’s most thrilling ride eastsuffolklines.co.uk ❷ Belle Vue Park (1874) ; Wherry Line (Oulton . was probably the journey to get there. Trips by passenger train - or Broad South & North, Somerleyton) ❻ ❸ Lighthouse (1874) P paddle-steamer from London or Yarmouth to Lowestoft’s wherrylines.com; nationalrail.co.uk ❹ The Ness - the UK’s most P piers - delivered pleasure-seekers right to the heart of By Air: Norwich Airport/London Stansted easterly park (2020) fashionable new seaside culture to sample ‘the most Airport ❺ England’s Most Easterly Point invigorating air in the British Isles’. From delightful By Water: The Broads/River Waveney/ ❻ Christ Church (1869) LOWESTOFT gardens to goat-cart rides, South Pier concert parties, Lake Lothing; North Sea. ❼ Station Square P Punch & Judy shows and phrenologist’s booths, top lowestofthavenmarina.co.uk; ❽ Bascule Bridge (1972) Victorian and Edwardian resort Lowestoft had loads Oulton Broad: yachtstation.co.uk ❼. to offer. Look out for seaside legacies today. ❾ Royal Plain/South Pier (1846) By Bike: On National Cycle Network Route . 517. Lowestoft Cycle Map: 10 Heritage Quay ❽ suffolkonboard.com/cycle 11 Claremont Pier (1903) P A Town of 2 Halves Long Distance Walks: . On Suffolk Coast Path; 12 Benjamin Britten’s birthplace 10 With its old town to the north along with the lighthouse and much of its maritime history, and Oulton Broad on Angles Way ❾ 13 South (Victoria) Beach the soft sands and Victorian villas of its resort (Kirkley) to the south, Lowestoft looks split down discoversuffolk.org.uk 14 Kensington Gardens (1922) the middle by Lake Lothing - once a freshwater creek and England’s leading shipbuilding port OS Maps: Outdoor Leisure OL40, for timber vessels. At its west end, Mutford Lock saves Oulton Broad from saltwaters. Until OS Explorer 231 15 Pakefield Church & Beach P 1830 - when seaside Kirkley was still mainly farmland - Mutford Bridge was the only route into Festivals? Concerts? Events? . Railway Station Lowestoft for wheeled vehicles. Joined-up Thinking thesuffolkcoast.co.uk P Car Parks Bus Station N Resort & Port P But it was to be one man’s vision which made all the difference. in the Making Great Entertainment – All Year Round! 11. NW NE Victorian entrepreneur Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809 -1889) Hamilton Check out the vibrant programme at Lowestoft’s historic . started developing Lowestoft’s harbourlands and laying down a Dock Marina W E Theatre. Enjoy West End productions, touring theatre, cinema films 12 railway. He created a harbour village, a steamboat service to 1906 and concerts by its prestigious orchestra-in-residence, The Royal . SW SE Denmark, restyled his local Jacobean mansion, Somerleyton Hall, 13 Philharmonic! Together with smaller-scale productions hosted by into an Italianate palace - and planned a resort to rival Brighton. Waveney Basin The Seagull and Lowestoft Players, there’s something for everyone. S Employer of the world’s largest labour-force, contractor for the 1883 Houses of Parliament, Nelson’s Column and over 3,000 miles of The Pocket Guide to railway throughout the world, Peto soon moulded a town of Resort Lowestoft is produced by . establishes First Light Festival 14 two potential halves into one amazing whole. East Suffolk Council. (Kirkley) Founded in 2019, this fab Engineers & More Entrepreneurs c.1860 24-hour, family-friendly Ships and sailboats, trams and trolleybuses, TV sets, off-shore energy, multi-arts festival takes place food processing and aquaculture science – Lowestoft has turned its Railway Station right on Lowestoft’s beautiful excellently industrious hands to move with the times. Within living 1855 coast over summer solstice memory, Somerleyton boatyard owner Christopher Cockerill, invented Trawler Basin/ © 2021 Drab Ltd/Xtrahead Content, design & production: weekend. Don’t miss it! P the hovercraft, then there’s the International Boatbuilding College wearedrab.co.uk / xtrahead.co.uk firstlightlowestoft.com Railway arrives Illustration: wearedrab.co.uk Photography: xtrahead.co.uk (Lake Lothing) and world-leading Centre . 15 1847 for Environment, Fisheries and Visit & Discover More PARKS, PIERS & PROMS Aquaculture Science laboratory Lake Lothing 3 mile Lowestoft Museum miles/5km s/5 HERITAGE WALK 3 s k (Pakefield). Lowestoft has also welcomed L m linked to sea e k I s lowestoftmuseum.org La Lound N on Fritt C its famous counter-weighted road-bridge E Y A 1831 C Lowestoft Maritime Museum R L Sparrow’s Nest Park W START: E and work is underway on building a third Explore more A L lowestoftmaritimemuseum.org.uk K Kensington Gardens A47 FINISH: Gordon Road. crossing and flood protection. Beach village East Anglia Transport Museum Somerleytonke or Pakefield n La Lowestoft: (originally Fritto Blundeston At London Road eatransportmuseum.co.uk Corton the leading light homes in North, go left past shops to Charles A47 A seaside garden to garden tour via England’s most Normandale’s ‘Spirits of Lowestoft’ sculpture terraces. Originally pairs of Italianate upturned boats) R iv easterly point to Peto’s Kirkley beach resort. e r on Station Square ❼. Note historic façade of c.1791(-1960s) W villas stood between them and the sea.