The Suffolk coast is not just about bracing walks through a natural wonderland. If the Great Outdoors get a bit too much, or the great British weather decides to flex its muscles, there is a plethora of captivating museums that showcase the region’s history and character.

1 EAST ANGLIA TRANSPORT MUSEUM
This veritable gem tucked away in the Lowestoft ‘suburb’ of Carlton Colville is the only place in Britain where you can ride on all three types of public road transport of the 20th century: vintage buses, trams and trolleybuses. Unlimited rides are free with the entrance price. There is a maintenance shed where you can see vehicles being restored by volunteers, and a splendid terminus tearoom. In addition, you can also see the the only surviving vehicle from the legendary Southwold Railway which used to run along the narrow gauge East Suffolk Light Railway.

2 THE AMBER MUSEUM
Southwold is the home to what claims to be the only museum dedicated to the story of amber, the semi-precious stone for which Suffolk’s shores are famous. The Amber Shop has outlets in High Street, Aldeburgh and Market Place, Southwold, where the museum (which has free admittance) occupies a back room and highlights the many weird, wonderful and beautiful forms into which amber can be crafted.

3 SOUTHWOLD MUSEUM
This small museum in Victorian Street contains many items from Southwold’s maritime past and also highlights the town’s connection with the writer George Orwell. It also has an interesting collection of relics from the Southwold Railway (for which revival plans are now afoot). Admission is free, and opening hours are from 2pm-4pm.

4 OLD DUNWICH
In the 11th century, the port of Dunwich was the tenth-largest settlement in England. Not only was it a great naval base but it was a religious centre of immense importance, with several churches and monasteries. However, the capital of a former Saxon kingdom has long since vanished beneath the waves. All that remains are the ruins of the 13th-century Franciscan friary on the cliff edge and the chapel of a leper hospital.
Modern-day Dunwich is a tiny settlement, with a pub, beach café and a museum in St James Street which outlines its fascinating history from Roman times onwards. Its prize exhibit is a scale model of old Dunwich as it existed 800 years ago, and is the culmination of many years’ research. A national history section displays the flora and fauna of the area’s four habitats: woodland, marsh, farmland and seashore. Admission to the museum is free.

5 LEISTON ABBEY
The towering ruins of the 12th-century abbey built by the Premonstratensian Order of Canons lie a mile to the north of Leiston, the biggest town on the Suffolk Heritage Coast. The abbey community moved here from an earlier site at Minsmere but was evicted during the Dissolution of Monasteries in Act, in 1537, and the buildings were partially pulled down. One of several monastic remains along this coast, the site is now in the care of English Heritage and admission is free.

6 LONG SHOP STEAM MUSEUM
Leiston became a centre for engineering manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. Richard Garrett founded a company which became one of the world’s biggest makers of stationary steam engines and traction engines. The plant was so big that it became a town within a town. Once the major employer in the area, Richard Garrett & Sons closed in the ’70s. A museum dedicated to the steam-powered machinery was set up inside the original Long Shop buildings , which were erected in 1852 as the first production line for stationary engines. The museum contains static displays of steam road locomotives, vintage fire engines, local railway vehicles and farming implements. Its displays and archives span two centuries of social history. In addition to four exhibition halls, there is a picnic garden, and a gift and book shop.

7 THE MOOT HALL MUSEUM
The wooden-framed Tudor building, which still functions as Aldeburgh’s town hall nearly 500 years after it was built, is also home to the local museum. It contains paintings, archive photographs and displays of local artefacts including birds, butterflies and moths, plus items from the burial of a Saxon warrior’s ship at Snape, believed to date from after the more famous Sutton Hoo funeral boat (see below). The Council Chamber is the setting for the opening scene of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.

8 SUTTON HOO
Described as “a page one in the history of England”, Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, is a unique exhibition based around the discovery of the funeral ship. It is said to be that of early Anglo-Saxon warrior king, Raedwald and was filled with a treasure hoard which laid undisturbed beneath an adjacent burial mound for 1300 years until its excavation in 1939. On the National Trust-owned site, the burial chamber has been recreated inside an exhibition hall which tells the story of how the first Anglo-Saxon settlers from the Continent lived in Britain and founded a new kingdom in East Anglia. You can view the gold and silver objects from the hoard, as well as the mound itself, and birdwatching walks are organised on a regular basis. The site contains a restaurant, shop and children’s play area.