Aldeburgh is a fascinating seaside town, the iconic Tudor Moot Hall on the seafront a clue to the long history of the town and its importance over the centuries.  Despite the burgeoning number of designer shops in the High Street, Aldeburgh has lost little of its 20th century charm and is still a haven for anyone seeking a peaceful getaway.
 
There is now little trace of many of Aldeburgh cottages, built in Tudor times and earlier when Aldeburgh was a thriving sea port.  Heavy storms and coastal erosion has obliterated the streets which once stood to the seaward side of the Moot Hall.  Yet walking along Crag Path or Crabbe Path today you can get some idea of the history of Aldeburgh cottages.
 
Seafront Aldeburgh cottages come in a variety of architectural styles; there are some fine Dutch gables,  a smattering of larger three and four storey properties (once Victorian guesthouses)  and built to house the hordes of middle class visitors able to travel to the Suffolk coast for the first time by train and Edwardian family houses.
 
Tucked between and around these houses are a variety of Aldeburgh cottages, many of them
 old fishermen’s cottages, today holiday homes.  Overlooking Aldeburgh’s much loved boating lake are two very different Aldeburgh cottages.  Gallery Cottage is well hidden behind its very private courtyard garden.  Owned in the 1940s by local fisherman, Billy Burrell, a friend of Benjamin Britten, the cottage was rented for several months by author E M Forster while he worked on the libretto of Billy Budd.  
 
Forster loved Aldeburgh:  “How happy I was.  There is a sense of space, of unfussiness, and in the midst of the gentle area, in the midst of the shingle and the windswept grasses, rises a tiny Elizabethan Moot Hall.”  None of the literary feel has gone; you can still sit in the first floor drawing room dipping into a novel or an art book or simply staring out to sea.
 
Beside it is Seahorse Cottage – its frontage a regular backdrop for photographs of young fans of the Grandpa in My Pocket series, which was filmed at the cottage and in nearby Southwold.  Seahorse Cottage is a bijou Aldeburgh cottage and, like its neighbour, finished to an extremely high standard making it a dream retreat.
 
Aldeburgh cottages sit cheek by jowl with fishermen’s warehouses and boatsheds, old shops and even Aldeburgh’s Old Library which is now a state of the art holiday property.  The High Street is a mix of cottages and shops, a couple of good pubs and several excellent restaurants.
 
Any visit to Aldeburgh should include a walk down to the estuary and around the many lovely Aldeburgh cottages hidden behind the High street, Dart Cottage built in 1796 still contains many of its original features.  Fisherman’s Cottage is hidden behind the Town Steps and up the hill is The Studio, originally an artist’s studio with a superb full length balcony from where, in winter, you have excellent views over the estuary.  Aldeburgh is a great place to stay at any time of the year.