Where are the top 5 best Suffolk picnic locations?

Have you been to any of these spots?

1. Rendlesham Forest

Take your picnic up a notch with access to the barbecue-friendly picnic area at Rendlesham Forest.

You can spend a day at this site, with a range of good walking and cycling trails, including the location of the famous UFO sighting in 1980. 

Rendlesham Forest was the site of a UFO sighting in 1980 (Image: Archant)

2. Beccles Quay

Beccles Quay has grassy banked areas with picnic benches, making it a lovely spot to sit and watch the boaters and the paddleboarders pass you on their root down the River Waveney.

If you would like to supplement your picnic with some ice cream or hot drinks, the little cafe is well stocked.

Beccles Quay at sunset is a nice place for an evening picnic (Image: Newsquest)

3. Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds

In the shadow of Bury St Edmunds' cathedral are well-groomed gardens and the ruins of an ancient abbey.

Setting up in the maze of crumbling walls makes for a peaceful picnic spot with glorious views of the gardens and cathedral.

Maybe once you have finished you can head to the nearby putting green!

The abbey ruins create space for several secluded picnic spots (Image: Archant)

4. Dunwich Forest

Dunwich Forest is part of the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Area of Outstanding National Beauty.

Not only is the forest a lovely spot to set up a picnic blanket, but the beach is too. The sea can be balmy on a warm day - why not have a dip after your packed lunch?Dunwich Forest leads to Dunwich beach (Image: Archant)

5. Thorpness Meare

Whilst the boating lake at Thorpness Meare is well known, a lesser-known fact is that the sporadic islands were named by J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. A romantic picnic might involve hiring a rowing boat for a few hours and navigating to one of the small islands, where you can dock, explore, and picnic.