Photograph: Eamonn McCabe for the Guardian Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/other
I could eat here every night of the week, and quite often do. Home-baked bread, beautiful beer, big log fire, fresh food, very local, very seasonal and served by the loveliest staff. The pub is right by the sea, the fish is right off the boats, and they let our dog sit on the bench by the fire, but don’t tell anyone.
• The Anchor, The Street, Walberswick, IP18 6UA
anchoratwalberswick.com
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
This could only happen in Suffolk. The excellent town of Halesworth has an old, dusty gun shop, which sells all manner of guns for the local farmers – and while you’re there, you can play with the owner’s tortoises (not a euphemism). He had some baby tortoises born last year, and I got two of them – little guys the size of golf balls. My nine-year-old son, Spike, named them Geoff and Jeff. They are doing a sponsored two metre race for Red Nose Day this year. My money is on Jeff, though I'm not sure which one he is.
• A Richardson & Sons, 32 Quay Street, Halesworth IP19 8ER
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
This arcade is the lovechild of a local weirdogenius (that is a word) called Tim Hunkin and is situated halfway down Southwold Pier. The little wooden hut is filled with the quirkiest, sweetest slot machines you have never imagined. The arcade is impossible to describe without sounding like a born-again Christian but is actually worth the hideous drive up the A12 just to visit here. Whack-A-Banker is my favourite game. There are fantastic fish and chips in the hut next door, and a great scone/jam/cream thing going on in the hut after that. Southwold Pier rocks.
• The Under the Pier Show, North Parade, Southwold, IP18 6BN
underthepier.com
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
In the teeny tiny village of Orford there is an artisan bakery, an oysterage and two great smokehouses. It’s like an unexpected foodie nirvana. You can watch the owner of Pinney’s Smokehouse put salmon, kipper, garlic, cod roe, trout, mackerel, oysters, chicken and ham hocks into his tar-blackened, ancient smokehouse just behind the Butley Orford Oysterage. You can ask him the same annoying questions about how he smokes the food that he has been answering for the last 29 years. And he doesn’t even mind, much.
• Butley Orford Oysterage, Market Hill, Orford, IP12 2LH
• Pinneys of Orford, The Old Warehouse, Quay Street, Orford, IP12 2NU
pinneysoforford.co.uk
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
The smallest and most perfectly formed cinema in Britain. Converted from a stable, it’s a miniature classic 1950s movie palace, and the perfect old fashioned cinema experience. There are just 50 velvety red seats (plus an extra eight on the balcony), a commissionaire in a full-length cape and hat greeting the audience at every show, a local dolly in a Betty Boop outfit serving tea from a pot, and God Save The Queen is played at the end of every film. Whatever the movie, they always have an interval during which the trapdoor on the stage opens, and an organ rises up from the pit beneath, with a local resident playing seaside tunes. I’m not even making this up.
• The Electric Picture Palace, Blackmill Road, Southwold, IP18 6AQ
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
My favourite clothes shop in Britain. It’s become virtually the only place I buy clothes any more because a) all their stock is gorgeous, and b) I find the whole dressing room experience in London miserable. I went to a shop in Notting Hill recently, where you had to ask for a size 12 to be brought out especially as it was such an unusual request. Whereas at Collen & Clare they actually remember my bra size and don’t mind a turnip that I’m an E.
• Collen & Clare, 25 Market Place, Southwold, IP186ED
collenandclare.com
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
My favourite cafe in Britain. A tiny kiosk on the prom at Southwold making perfect bacon butties, fishfinger rolls and mugs of tea (I love a mug, hate a cup). My beach hut (“Bernard” – our family’s pride and joy) is next door to Suzi’s and if I order at the kiosk, she delivers it to me on a tray – making my Bernard a beach hut with room service. Classy.
• Suzie's Beach Cafe, Southwold Promenade, Southwold, IP18 6BN
twitter.com/suziessouthwold
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
This is the greatest toy shop in the world: an independently owned haven for children in a lovely market town. It is a shop so thoughtful that they remember the toys my kids like, and tweet me when they get new ones in.
• Halesworth Toy Shop, 4A, The Thoroughfare, Halesworth, IP19 8AH
halesworthtoyshop.com
Photograph: Lottie Davies for the Guardian Photograph: other
