London is in England, but England is NOT London.  Lets say you take a trip to London for 5 days and come home telling all your friends how much you loved/hated “England”.  Please re-phrase, you went to London, own it. The rest of England is different, less frantic, less crowded, less expensive, less snobby, less… London.

I love London, I really do, and my yearly trip to England involves a day or two in the capitol metropolis. The rest of the time I am relaxing tiny village on the east coast of Norfolk, Winterton-on-sea.  The energy and life that London drained from me is quickly restored with a stay in a quiet coastal village.

View from Swan Hotel

When London get’s you down Try This…

Southwold

My favorite coastal village only 2 hours outside of London.  Take the train from Liverpool Street Station to Ipswich or Norwich and rent a car to explore the quite Suffolk and Norfolk villages, the best of which is Southwold.

Or Try This… Skip Heathrow and Fly direct to Norwich, Luton or Sanstead airports for easier access to the quiet eastern coast.

Drink This… Adnam’s Beer

Adnam’s Brewery Store

Southwold is home to Adnams Brewery and at times it feels like the entire town is owned by Adams.  We stayed in the historic and classy Swan Inn, owned by Adams and  featuring Adams on Tap and bottles of Adams sparkling water in the room. Check out the Adams brewery tour of just go straight to the shop.

Eat This… Excellent Sea Food

Fresh from the boat seafood avaiable at several stands/restaurants including Sole Bay Fish Company, who offers seafood snacks to-go or feast on one of the two shell-fish platter options.

Southwold’s High Street have several restaurant options but the most popular were the NEW Two Magpies Bakery and the meet pies from The Blac Olive. British bad reputation aside this English food was really quite good.

Try This… Take a Walk

Walk north on the boardwalk to the historic pier with turn of the century arcade or head South to the harbor and excellent seafood stalls.  Take a “ferry” across the harbor to restored saxon village of Walberswick. By Ferry I am talking about a guy with a row boat for six people and by ‘harbor’ I mean a narrow river with docks on it, but hey it’s super cute.

Continue to the Harbor Inn for a pint before you cross the fields (provided it’s not too muddy) to return to Southwold.

Harbor Inn Backyard

There is a lot more to England than London’s tube, traffic and squares. Even Prince William and the Duchess Kate choose to live in remote Wales — while they still can.

On your next trip to England SKIP London and TRY THIS…. English coastal village Southwold.