Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is one of the most distinguished and most characterful small seaside towns in England, a Suffolk coastal settlement of considerable literary and musical culture whose combination of the famous annual music festival founded by Benjamin Britten, the attractive High Street of Georgian and Victorian buildings, the excellent seafood and the relationship with the Aldeburgh Beach and the North Sea creates one of the most rewarding cultural and coastal destinations in East Anglia. The town has attracted artists, writers and musicians since the late nineteenth century and retains a cultural vitality quite out of proportion to its modest size.
The Aldeburgh Festival, co-founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in 1948, is one of the most important annual music events in Europe, drawing audiences and performers from across the world to concerts in the Maltings at Snape, in Aldeburgh church and in various other venues across the surrounding Suffolk countryside. Britten's connection with Aldeburgh was the defining relationship of his creative life, and the town and its landscape permeate his music from the early orchestral works to the late operas whose settings are drawn directly from the Suffolk coast.
The beach at Aldeburgh is one of the most characterful stretches of the Suffolk coast, its long ridge of shingle backed by fishermen's huts and the working boats that haul up on the beach provide fresh fish directly to the public. The scallops and fish sold from the huts on the beach are among the freshest available anywhere on the east coast, and the Fish and Chip shop in the town is one of the most celebrated in England.