National Trust - Orford Ness National Nature Reserve

Spent an afternoon on this ‘Island of Secrets’ taking the ‘Half Day Trailer Tour’ with the National Trust. The tour was a great way to see some of the important buildings and landmarks on this intriguing part of Suffolk.Our guides for the day, Richard and David, were excellent, knowledgeable and keen to share their love for Orford Ness. The trailer tour is a great way to see the sites, so that you can decide which ones to explore further, on foot at a later date.You travel to Orford Ness by a small boat, it takes less than 5 minutes, which gives you great views of the river too.Highly recommend a visit.

Orford Ness is a national Trust owned island, with conservation and wildlife in mind.If you wanted to visit you have a number of options, the NT run a boat trip across the water for around £10 non members, £4 members.Once on the island your free to roam, although same areas are off limits. You will need to walk around 5 miles to visit the various areas.Another option is to pay for the land rover tour, you go with 24 other people on the trailor and they do the driving and get you to the places of interest. This costs more, and they only do a very limited number of these tours, check out the website but the guides are excellent.NT also do a number of other walking tours, and just boat trips some require advanced booking. The island is impressive, and full of history. You will only get access to the area around the AWRE on a guided tour. Many of the buildings are unsafe, so access is not possible. The guides will provide lots of valuable information.

A very peaceful place to walk and take in history a far cry from how it must have been in the past. Plenty to see from abandoned buildings to wildlife. There are museum areas detailing the history of the site much of which is still kept a secret by those who worked there. Due to the risk of unexploded ordinance you are requested to stick to the marked paths. To explore Orford Ness fully expect to be there for around four to five hours. The local car park is reasonably priced with plenty of spaces. Definitely worth the visit.

Dogs not allowed. No cafe on ‘the island’, but there are public toilets, an information centre, and - weirdly - a second hand bookshop! Lots of walking, and not always clear if a route is the right one - across the shingle the safe route uses red stones but that’s not always completely clear. The black beacon was great for deer spotting, but the strange poetry playing on repeat at the time of my visit was…not the best poetry I’ve listened to.It was great for a good walk though, very interesting landscape and plenty of wildlife. Recommend bringing a pair of binoculars if you’re there for the nature reserve!On a sunny day bring sunglasses - not matter how cool - and suncream as there is little cover. The shingle is a bit tough to walk in for those less steady on their feet, and very few resting places or benches. It gets windy out in the open so bring layers to wear. In terms of what to wear, I wore sandals on my feet. Some people went full hiking gear - and honestly that’s just unnecessary, it’s flat and the paths are either concrete or shingle. Wear what you’d wear to any park and you’ll be fine.Staff are absolutely brilliant, incredibly friendly and happy to help. All very knowledgable and passionate about Orford Ness.Ferry is a little expensive, £11 each. It’s smooth sailing though, and only 5 minutes. Boats leave every 20 minutes with up to 12 people per boat, and come back to the mainland every 20 minutes. Not very choppy and not a challenge to embark or disembark.Nearest cafe is next to the ferry, limited selection but coffee (which you can take on the boat with you!) and some gluten free items available. Quite slow service, it wasn’t too busy and no queue to order, and a coffee order still took 15 minutes.Note: You cannot walk here from Aldborough, cross to Orford Ness, and take the boat back. Don’t even bother trying. You must purchase a pass for the ferry on the mainland as they issue boarding passes each way. They’re very hot on this, walkers from the mainland will be turned away and told to walk back.

I recently visited Orford Ness, and I can say that it is both fascinating and bleak in equal measure. Orford Ness is managed by National Trust, and now they’ve stopped testing weapons, it's a popular destination for birdwatchers, walkers, and history buffs.Once you’ve checked in with the site office, you take a short trip in a boat across to the spit. Upon disembarking, you’re met by a guide who explains a bit about the history of the site. You are then free to explore the site at your own pace.The landscape is eerie and atmospheric, with crumbling ruins, abandoned buildings, and rusty military equipment scattered throughout. It has interesting history, and has been used for military purposes for centuries. During World War II, it was home to a number of secret military installations, including radar stations and experimental weapons testing facilities.I would argue that National Trust have done a fantastic job of preserving this site, and not turning into a high footfall tourist attraction – there are no cafes or tourist gift shops to be found. There are a couple of small museums which are put together very well and packed full of information.Whether you're interested in history, nature, or simply looking for a unique and atmospheric place to visit, Orford Ness is certainly not one to be missed – photos really don’t do it justice!

Amazing place to engage with history and nature! Lots of spots preserved in time, with so much information about the importance of the Orford Island in the war. Something really important to stress is, to see anything there is a lot of walking! (Like 7k round trip to the buildings on the shingle - see map in pics) Everything is very spread out, but it's over beautiful landscapes. On the day we visited, it went from blue skies and sun to torrential rain, as seen in the last 2 pictures (apparently this happens alot, so take a rain coat). The volunteers on the island were friendly, passionate and knowledgeable. There is also nowhere to buy food or cold drinks on the island (the book shop has a kettle and tea and instant coffee available for a small donation). Next time we visit we will take a picnic and make a day of it. The Ferry service was smooth, on time and the captain was friendly. For anyone who likes rambling and walking in nature or world war history (or ideally both) this place is a must-see.

I loved this remote, peaceful and slightly sinister reserve!You can only really get to it via a small ferry and you need a guide to get on the reserve and you have a generous but allocated time before you are required to leave. That's great because it limits the amount of people wandering around at any given time.The atmosphere is almost post apocalyptic, with various decaying military buildings and equipment which you can explore, You are even warned of possible unexploded ordnance. There are some interesting educational displays in some of the buildings for information on when Orford Ness was a radar base.A great place to find peace and quite and enjoy a picnic near the lighthouse and shoreline. A lot of walking involved but really enjoyable.

A very interesting place. Really enjoyed all the history and wildlife displays.There is lots of information about the testing at the site plus you get to see wildlife as you go round. We saw lots of different birds, a hare , Chinese water dear and a stout plus loads of butterflies.Please note its a long walk between everything. I borrowed a tramper to get around the site because I have a walking disability. This was great and meant I could access the majority of the site. You have to be able to walk down steps and access a boat to get to the island either on your own or with help from your companion.

Weird and wonderful place, lots of things to see and explore. Frequent sightings of the wildlife enhanced the experience. You need to spend about 4-5 hours to do all the trails and see the whole site.