I'm in the planning stages for a trip next May. We are seasoned UK visitors and would like to stay in East Anglia for a week. I chose this area after reading Rickmav's trip report.

Our holiday interests are walking public footpaths, observing wildlife, touring historic homes and gardens, poking through antique shops...

I found some cottages just east of Sudbury at www.groves-cottages.co.uk. Would this area be a good home base (and has anyone ever stayed in these cottages or have recommendations for any others)?

Some questions -

Is the coastline worth a trip (and if yes, which towns and why)?

Has anyone been to Sutton Hoo (saw some of the treasures in the British Museum, thought this could be interesting)?

How is the auto traffic in this area as compared with that in the Cotswolds?

There are several National Trust and English Heritage properties in the area, which have you liked and why?

Any personal observations on this part of England would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't stayed in one of those cottages, but I think that I would move nearer the coast for example Southwold, Dunwich or Walberswick.
There's nothing wrong with Sudbury, though. I have used http://www.english-country-cottages.co.uk/
and have always been satisfied with them
A good tip is to go for properties that say no children and pets, unless you have either or both. The furnishings will tend to be superior.

Yes, the coast is well worth a trip.
Southwold is charming and unspoilt.
Dunwich is a small village which used to be a large town. Nearly all of it has been swallowed by the sea. If you go there, the Minsmere nature reserve is well worth a visit. This whole area is P.D. James country if you are a fan.
Aldeburgh is another charming little town. Benjamin Britten lived and worked there.
In Norfolk, you could go somewhere like Cley-next-the Sea. There are seals there and the marshes are home to many birds.
Sutton Hoo is interesting, but quite honestly there's not a lot to see there, as all the finds are in the BM.
So far, thank goodness the traffic is not so bad as in the Cotswolds although many places are just as picturesque.
I just hope that the dreaded Rick Steves doesn't discover it.

Framlingham Castle in Suffolk is interesting to visit and so is Blickling Hall in Norfolk.
You must also visit Lavenham.
You can see some photos at
http://sylvia.photoblog.me.uk/c1250171_37.html

Thank you so much for your insight.

Your photos were great.

Also, any pub recommendations?

I would second the idea of visiting Blickling Hall.

You may or may not be interested in Sandringham.

You might consider traveling to the Broads, also

I continue to enjoy the towns along the Norfolk coast particularly places such as Happisburgh and others nearby.

good info so far - I'll just second Lavenham, Bickling Hall and Framlingham Castle.

Plus Orford Castle and Holkham Hall are well worth visits.

Ickworth is one of my favorites..maybe because I collect silver and they have a large collection. There was a large antiques center in Norwich in an old church that was fun to poke through, also another in Fakenham. We stayed in Swaffham and had no problems seeing everything. Another nice small town is Holt, good antiques shopping there too

The Ship Inn in Dunwich http://www.shipinndunwich.co.uk/history.php

The Bell Inn in Walberswick
http://www.blythweb.co.uk/bellinn/
It's 600 years old and looks as though bits have just been built on over the centuries.

Mrs. Wilde:

Take a look at www.visiteastofengland.com for lots of good information.

We enjoyed our visit to Sutton Hoo and thought it well worth our time. Combine this with a walk thru Woodbridge close by.

You can see Suffolk Punch horses at the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket.

We had a lovely day at Ely cathedral.

I also would move in closer to the coast. How long will you have for your visit?

Sandy

Mrs. Wilde - sorry just saw you said a week.

Sandy

Of course, Suffolk is Constable country and you might want to visit Flatford and nearby East Bergholt
East Bergholt is unusual in that its church bells are in a special bell-cage
see http://www.eastbergholt-bells.org.uk/

East Anglia, of course is famous for wonderful big churches built in the time when it was wealthy through the wool trade. You'll sometimes see a small village with a church like a small cathedral. Southwold and Blytheborough
are good examples.

Southwold is a small town rather than a village, but you know what I mean ;-)

Just got back from running errands and was excited to see more responses - wow - thanks to everyone for the information.

Would Southwold be a good base or rather a nice place to visit?

I'm researching Swaffham and Holt as possible locations as well.

You asked for comparisons between East Anglia and the Cotswolds.

East Anglia is on the edge of Britain, but in medieval times many trade routes to European partners from the rest of England and Wales went through it, and it benefits from European agricultural policies more than almost anywhere else in Britain. The Cotswolds are in the centre of England and its land is pretty useless for agriculture.

As a result:
- East Anglia was much richer before the Reformation than the Cotswolds. Nearly 10% of England's entire stock of medieval churches is in Norfolk alone, which claims to have the world's highest density of churches. Eat your hearts out, heathen Florence and Rome. (www.norfolk-churches.co.uk) Few were "restored" in Victorian times, and an astonishing amount of their medieval decorative work semi-survives
- Both are spasely populated by English standards. More strategic highways go through the Cotswolds, so you hit heavy traffic less often in East Anglia. Generally, sideroads are roughly the same - though obviously flatter, and often straighter, in most of East Anglia. But because there's more living agriculture in East Anglia, you can get stuck behind lorries or tractors far more often. And at holiday weekends, East Anglia's few major roads get a lot more crowded (we regularly travel between the two then, and our average speed doubles in the Cotswolds)
- Parts of East Anglia get some domestic tourism: virtually none of it is on the Japanese coach party circuit. So even Lavenham never seems to get chocker with tourists the way Bourton on the Water does. But, since all the tourism is domestic, and therfore car-borne, finding somewhere to park in East Anglia's best known places at summer (that includes May) weekends is, if anything, tougher.
- East Anglian towns and villages are far less twee than they are in the Cotswolds. With greater distances between them, the shops serving locals are far more resilient, so there are far more small grocers and hardware stores, and far fewer antique shops and antiquarian booksellers, than in ythe Cotswolds.
- East Anglia's inland is mostly arable, but it has a long coastline. So much of it's got relatively little land-based wildlife (and surprisingly few birds inland, since the area's agribusiness has grubbed up the hedges they once depended on). Practically its entire coastline, though, is a hugely important staging post for migratory birds, and a good delve through www.rspb.org.uk is essential to do the research to help you catch the right migration during your stay in the region.
- Don't miss Castle Acre

Swaffham does make a good base for exploring , but in itself is not terribly interesting . We stayed there because there is an excellent hotel with marvelous food! If you don't eat at the hotel , your choices are very limited.

http://www.strattons-hotel.co.uk/index.php

Flanner - as usual - concise, interesting and helpful information, thank you so much

Jody - I presumed incorrectly you had stayed in a cottage, Swaffham is out if it was not very interesting as we enjoy coming "home" at the end of the day to enjoy a nice dinner in the garden and maybe just one more walk

We stayed a few days in Norfolk last year and enjoyed it. In our case, we were by the coast (at Wells-next-the-sea); while it is not stunning coastal scenery, we liked the different feeling of the marshes and walks. Wells was a compromise, quiet, but with 6 or 8 small pubs or restaraunts to choose from for dinner. If I was to return, I might choose one of the yet smaller villages east of there, accepting that we might need to drive for dinner (or only have one choice). I would avoid holiday weekends; we were heading there at the end of a holiday, and traffic in the other direction was quite bad.

Someone mentioned Constable country. I second that. Pub recommendations near Sudbury? At Bury St Edmund is the smallest bar in UK, he "Nutshell". Long Melford just north of Sudbury is nice - very long main street. Also picturesque are villages Cavendish & Lavenham to the north and Finchingflield & Thaxted to the west. On Sudbury's doorstep is England's most violently haunted village: Borley. And Sudbury itself has a pub that is haunted by a cat whose sleleton was found entombed in a wall when the place was renovated some time back. Can't recall which pub it is, but when I get home I can check my notes and post the info if you're interested.

We stayed in Burnham Market in Norfolk for a week last year. Good centre- village with excellent hotel and restaurant "The Hoste Arms" although we rented a cottage through English Country Cottages. Other places to visit- Holkham Beach for wide expanse of sea and sky; Holkham Hall for classical splendour, Blicking Hall, Oxburgh (both National Trust); Blakeney National Nature Reserve; Norwich for its wonderful cathedral and many interesting churches.

Or in Suffolk- we stayed in Walberswick, across the river estuary from Southwold at "Ferry House" opposite the Bell public house. Southwold is a delightful little town, with its colourful and expensive (!!) beach huts, its pier, lighthouse, excellent restaurants (e.g. The Crown Hotel)Adnam's beer and the happiest pigs you'll ever see (they're fed on Adnam's mash left over from the beer brewing). Sutton Hoo is an interesting day out.
We also enjoyed Aldeburgh, The Maltings at Snape, Woodbridge and Orford Ness (another nature reserve)

Hmm. Burnham Market...

Does have a bit of a reputation for being Islington on Sea, and conversations around the Burnhams (there's a whole family of them. Overy Staithe and Overy Lower for example) do have an - err, unusual - preoccupation with traffic congestion along Essex Road. Unsurprisingly, the Hoste's restaurant prices are a bit more geared to what a corporate lawyer who's just got his partnership can afford than many exchange rate-hit Americans might feel comfortable with.

However, I hear really very good things about www.fishesrestaurant.co.uk (though, checking the site, they seem to have shoved their prices up pretty sharpish in the last couple of weeks. Not sure whether it's because it's now June, or because fame's gone to their head) And after years of seriously lousy seafood in the area, the new Norfolk Riddle in Walsingham has to be in Britain's top couple of dozen fish and chip shops.

Which raises the subject of Walsingham: arguably the strangest town in Britain. There was a thread on it here a couple of years ago.

Flanner.
The last time I was in Suffolk, I noticed that there were lots of new hedges being planted.
No doubt, the farmers got grants to plant them.
Equally sure is that the would have got grants to grub them up in the first place ;-)