Suffolk: land of my father’s birth and fictional birthplace of Harry Potter (true fact Potter fans). Inland it is dotted with lovely towns and villages featuring pastel coloured cottages with thatched roofs. But head to its easterly side and you will also find a stretches of glorious unspoilt coastline abutted by tasteful towns where you can queue up for gluten free fish and chips and wash them down with a craft ale or two like a proper DIFL.
Since discovering the charms of its coast 15 years ago we have been regular return visitors. I spent my 30th birthday eating chips on the beach in Aldeburgh, we celebrated my mum’s 60th birthday with a meal at the Crown & Castle in Orford and we returned (without my mum) for a dirty weekend in Woodbridge back in the days when that wasn’t shorthand for clearing out the garden shed.
Its charms are endless and I am always on the look out for great new self catering places to stay on this stretch of coast now that our days of holing up in hotel rooms are over. So I was delighted when Jodie got in touch to ask me if we would like to come and stay at The Dunns, a newly converted cedar clad Scandi style holiday home in the heart of Orford, one of my very favourite Suffolk spots.
The Dunns definitely has coastal kerb appeal
I love how they have brought the bungalow up to date with the use of timber cladding
Orford sits on the mouth of the river Ore and you reach it via a soul stirring drive through Rendlesham Forest. There is very definitely a sense of leaving the world behind behind you as you whizz past pine trees under huge open skies. Whilst Orford is a vision of cute cottage loveliness it also has some really cool contemporary houses as well which take full advantage of the amazing views out over Orford Ness Nature reserve.
Orford is full of pretty houses like these red brick beauties
The Dunns is one such home. It sits nestled in a great spot just yards from the castle and the quay and has been newly renovated by Jodie and her family to create a light, bright and spacious holiday home. Downstairs it has a brilliant open plan layout with a newly installed navy kitchen which leads out to a courtyard at the back and a great garden at the front.
The open plan kitchen/dining space
The super well equipped kitchen
A tap like this is on my kitchen renovation wish list
I liked how Jodie had mixed some vintage pieces into the Scandi inspired decor
There are two bedrooms at The Dunns, a double and a twin that can also be a double. The twin is on the groundfloor with an ensuite shower room whilst the double is upstairs in the dormer with its own balcony, stunning floor to ceiling windows and access to an eaves bathroom with the kind of roll top bath you will struggle to get out of.
The master bedroom upstairs with access out to a balcony
I loved the floor to ceiling windows and the views out to Orford Ness
There were so many lovely touches with plentiful interiors books to read in bed
The bathroom in the eaves. I loved the cement tiles they had used in the shower
The view from the bathroom through to the bedroom
The twin bedroom downstairs
With its own ensuite and some more show stopping tiles
Back downstairs, the living room has a lovely squishy corner sofa and woodburner for days when the sun isn’t shining so bright. There is also a sideboard stocked with board games to keep everyone amused as well as a Smart TV.
The squishiest of sofas
As you can see it wasn’t long before everyone had made themselves at home!
A cosy corner by the woodburner
The interiors have been kept simple and Scandi so were right up my street but what really sets The Dunns apart is the level of thought and detail that Jodie has put into making this a truly comfortable and cosseting hideaway. There are stacks of gorgeous interiors books that you will want to sit down with in front of the fire, back issues of Simple Things mags to stay in bed on a Sunday with, Plum & Ashby bath products, lots of board games (and most thrillingly of all for my 3 year old a set of Power Ranger figures) and then also wine, chocolate and biscuits from local producers awaiting you on arrival.
Arriving to find the new Modern Rustic was bliss
I loved this mural in the hallway
There is an honesty shop in the house offering a range of lovely locally made interiors items
So you can stock up on all your favourite Plum & Ashby products whilst you are there
Things to Eat, See and Do in Orford
If you can tear yourself away from the house Orford itself has enough on its own to keep you happily amused for a whole weekend. Mere metres from the Dunns is the legendary Pump Street Bakery. If there is a purer slice of pastry pleasure on this earth than their Rhubarb and Custard donuts I am yet to find it. If you want to enjoy breakfast in the cafe then make sure you get there are soon as it opens (if not a little before) as there are basically only 4 tables and lots of competition for them! Pump Street also now have a shop in the same square if you wanted to take some chocolate goodies home with you.
People come from miles around to get one of the Pump Street Bakery donuts
They also have a chocolate shop just across the square
Inside the small but perfectly formed cafe. Be sure to get there early if you want a table!
Donut heaven
Parking our posteriors outside Pump Street Bakery
Walking away from the main square you have the choice of going right to the castle or left to the Quay. The castle is defo not of Windsor sized proportions but our boys loved rampaging around its walls and ground playing hide and seek. If you have worked up a hunger from hide and seek you can call into the Crown & Castle (formerly owned by Ruth Watson of the Hotel Inspector) for a lovely meal or a drink by their fire. Or back on the market square you can enjoy a truly locally sourced meal at the Butley Orford Oysterage. Pinneys who own the restuarant (and a shop down on the Quay) have been growing and smoking Oysters in nearby Butley Creek since the 1950s.
Orford castle: small but perfectly formed
The Crown & Castle is definitely worth a visit for lunch or dinner
If you are not too full of seafood or sausage and mash head down to the Quay to walk it off at Orford Ness a ten mile shingle spit with marsh, lagoons and waterways. If you prefer to gentle cruise to a stomp through marshland there are daily river cruises from which you can take in all of the same scenery. Sit on the quay at sunset and you will see fishing boats coming back in as the light catches the water and seagulls swoop over head. You can warm up in the nearby Jolly Sailors, one of many excellent Adnam’s brewery pubs on this stretch of coast.
The Quay was my coastal heaven with faded black clad huts
The perfect place for a pint after a wintery walk in Orford Ness
Things to Eat, See and Do on the Suffolk Coast
If you can tear yourself away from Orford there are numerous other lovely spots to explore, almost too many to mention in one blog post! Orford is within very easy reach of all the hotspots on this coast. Head slightly inland to Snape Maltings to enjoy a wonderful combination of music concerts, galleries, cafes and shops set in amongst an expanse of reeds and water in a gorgeous old red brick building. Further up the coast from Orford the delights of Aldeburgh await with its bustling high street and two fish and chip shops so good that they have people queuing around the street for their cod and chips. Our favourite is the Aldeburgh Fish and Chip Shop . Go and eat them sitting on the expanse of pebbly beach and if you have room for dessert be sure to head to the Two Magpies Bakery . Keeping heading up the coast from Aldeburgh and you also have great beaches to chose from at Thopeness, Dunwich and Walberswick not to mention all the delights of Southwold to the south.
If you can tear yourself away from the beach the nearest town to Orford is Woodbridge, set on the river and full of lovely old buildings, shops and cafes. Our favourite is Honey & Harvey. Shops to visit include Vanil, New Street Market and Matisa Market for brilliant secondhand clothes. And it would be remiss of me not to mention the Unruly Pig on the way to Woodbridge which is the best Sunday lunch I have ever eaten. If you have time and room in your belly after that list of recommendations then head to Darsham Nurseries for a lovely lunch and spot of plant shopping. There is also a great antiques/vintage place in which to have a rummage just over the road.
The cafe at Darsham Nurseries
Writing this list of recommendations has just completely wet my appetite to book a return stay to The Dunns this Summer. Thank you so much to Jodie for hosting us for the weekend. The Dunns is available to book through Best Of Suffolk. Click here for the link and here for The Dunns Instagram.
