Beccles, a fascinating historic town, is today largely known visited for its position on the southern end of the Broads National Park and its wonderful ancient buildings and attractive river walks, but the very fact that the river runs through the centre of the town must have made it an ideal dropping off / collection point for contraband.

Below is an extract from Smuggling in the British Isles: a History by Richard Platt For more detail visit his website www.smuggling.co.uk

Dedicated to Suffolk, Big House Holidays and Suffolk Cottage Holidays offer visitors the very best holiday properties available, ranging from cosy thatched cottages, to funky beach houses and large luxurious barns. A family of comprehensive Suffolk websites, unequalled in detail and images, ensures that you will be able to find the perfect property for your Suffolk break and with a state-of-the-art booking system to match, you can then go on to check availability, and book and pay on line quickly, easily and at any time of day or night.

Fournel Jewellers, owned by Astrid and Robin Fournel, have been in business on the Suffolk Heritage Coast since the early 1980’s and includes the world-famous Amber Shop & Museum in Southwold. Robin is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on amber and regularly appears on television and broadcasts on topical radio programmes. Astrid and Robin travel regularly to acquire beautiful and unusual jewellery designed and manufactured to exacting standards.

‘This buzzy little café … has ambience a-plenty and a queue out the door,’ according to the AA Restaurant Guide 2006, which has also recently awarded Earsham Street Café Two AA Rosettes for the quality of its modern brasserie style cooking. Well worth escaping the hordes on the coast for, it makes a welcoming pitstop at any time of day, especially at lunchtimes when it moves up a gear, definitely ‘more scallops than scones’.