Suffolk is a quiet corner of England’s East Coast. The first place in Britain to be touched by the morning sunrise.

• Adventures among heath and linksland
• Aldeburgh – Two-ball golf encouraged, no par fives
• Fish and Chips & a Giant Scallop
• Newmarket: Home of Horse Racing
• The Nutshell: Britain’s Smallest pub – Bury St Edmund’s

It’s a storied place, illustrated by dramatic beautiful landscapes and bordered by 50 miles of glorious coastline.

Between tiny picture-perfect villages and mediaeval towns you’ll find little-known but secretly celebrated golf courses laid out over sandy heaths and pure links land.

It’s a place of inspiration, a magnet for artists and the birthplace of cultural icons like landscape painter John Constable and composer Benjamin Britten.

Just two hours from London and The Midlands, Suffolk is the road less travelled when it comes to golf trips.

Overshadowed by the clifftop links and Royal courses of neighbouring Norfolk…….

Suffolk is home to a collection of excellent courses, including Thorpeness, Aldeburgh, Ipswich, Woodbridge and Felixstowe Ferry golf clubs.

Start your coastal journey at the quirky holiday village of Thorpeness, a place conceived in the imagination of a wealthy Scottish barrister and playwright as the perfect playground for young and old alike.

Thorpeness Meare, a boating lake at the centre of this English oddity, is said to have inspired the imagination of J.M Barrie to write the children’s classic Peter Pan.

Along with the tiny inlets and isles of the Meare, you’ll find windmills, mock Tudor houses, tennis courts, a country club and Thorpeness Golf Club and Hotel.

The ideal base from which to foray out to play Suffolk’s best golf courses, Thorpeness is also home to a memorable heathland course designed by Five-Time Open Champion James Braid.

Reminiscent of the great English heathlands in the Home Counties, Thorpeness criss-crosses springy, fast running turf in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Its finishing hole is one of the finest you’ll find in all the British Isles, meandering to a close beneath an unusual feat of architecture, Suffolk’s ‘House in the Clouds’, a water tower turned holiday home that appears to hover on the horizon.

A short drive from Thorpeness is Aldeburgh Golf Club, arguably the most prestigious and best known of Suffolk golf courses.

A regular fixture in rankings of Britain’s Top-100 courses, Aldeburgh is a stern but stunning test of golf – distinguished by the absence of a par-five and a par of 68.

There are no less than 12 par fours measuring over 400 yards from the back tips and driving the ball straight and long lies at the core of the challenge.

Aldeburgh is a two-ball golf course, where foursomes is the traditional format of the game. Visitors on The Suffolk Coastal Golf Tour have the option to play in a two-ball while playing their own ball or play foursomes golf in four balls.

Nearby Aldeburgh is home to cosy cafés, distinctive independent retailers, sophisticated eateries and one of the best regarded fish and chip shops in all of England. If you plump for the latter expect to queue, and queue, but the wait is ultimately worth it – especially when eaten on the beach looking out to sea near ‘Shell,’ an iconic piece of public art by Maggie Hamblin.

While Thorpeness and Aldeburgh are handily placed on the same stretch of the Suffolk Heritage Coast, you will need a car to travel to Ipswich, Felixstowe Ferry and Woodbridge Golf Clubs.

Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club is the furthest away, at around a 50-minute drive from Thorpeness, but is well worth the trip.

Established in 1880, it is the fifth oldest golf course in England and epitomises the classic challenge of links golf, played within sight of sea in unpredictable and oft-changing weather.

The main course is called Martello, named for the squat fortified towers dotted along the coastline that served as defences against the threat of foreign invasion over the centuries.

Its greens are fast, firm and excellently maintained and the front nine is distinguished by three par-fives which offer a chance to build a score before protecting it on the homeward stretch.

There is also a smaller nine-hole course at Felixstowe called the Kingsfleet Course for those who want to make the most of a full day’s golf.

At Ipswich and Woodbridge, golfers will find two classic heathland courses, similar in style and layout to Thorpeness – for all three have been touched by the hands of master designer James Braid.

Ipswich Golf Club’s Purdis Heath course is a traditional British heathland with a horseshoe shaped layout. The outward nine run around the inside and the inward nine along the outside. The ever-present heather, pine and birch trees frame fast running fairways and well placed greens.

The run for home offers plenty of opportunity with the 16^th a short par four and the 17^th a reachable par-five before the test stiffens at the excellent par four 18^th.

Woodbridge Golf Club is just 30 minutes from Thorpeness and is another club with a vaunted past which dates back to 1893.

Originally laid out over Bromeswell Heath by Scottish golf professional Davie Grant, Woodbridge was tweaked by James Braid in the 1920’s – around the time he created the course at Thorpeness.

Woodbridge’s Heath course has a colourful past, affected by the Second World War when ruined cars and scaffolding were used to disrupt landings by enemy gliders and pilots, and ravaged by a hurricane in 1987 – which uprooted numerous trees and damaged greens.

Like Thorpeness, Woodbridge is short on the card but brimming with character and cunning. Heather and gorse abound and the course requires accuracy and astute course management if you are to score well.

In addition to excellent golf courses, there are plenty to see and do off the course in Suffolk.

Newmarket is the spiritual home of British Horse Racing and there is no better place for a day at the races.

At Bury St Edmunds you’ll discover The Nutshell, Britain’s smallest pub, with rare memorabilia including a mummified cat.

In scenic Southwold, lovers of real ale will delight in a tour of the Adnam’s Brewery and Copper Gin Distillery, where favourites like Ghost Ship, Broadsword and Southwold Bitter are crafted.

Lowestoft is the beating heart of Suffolk’s maritime past and anyone with a passion for fishing can take a day trip out in search of a deep-sea catch.

To play golf in Suffolk is to journey around one of Britain’s truly unspoilt coastlines, made more enjoyable by a rare micro-climate that enjoys more sunshine and less rainfall than virtually anywhere else in the UK.