Date Night Inspiration on The Suffolk Coast

Located within the picturesque Kenton Hall, The Food Hub Cookery School is a housed within a converted cow byre next to the hall's kitchen garden. Using the state of the art equipment (including Aga Rangemaster cookers and Kenwood appliances) you can learn a range of cooking skills with your loved one by booking onto one of the many day courses on offer. 

Spend a day learning how to make British Breads, knobbly Coburgs, Bloomers and Cottage Loaves on the British Breads workshop and be guided through a range of seasonal Spring recipes from a foolproof Rhubarb cheesecake to layered cakes and the ultimate meringue roulade on the Seasonal Spring Baking course. If you're staying on The

Suffolk Coast over Easter, then you can gaze across the kitchen worktops at your loved one as you make Hot Cross Buns, sweet and savoury bagels, multi-plaited challah and snail rolls. 

For course information, visit https://www.kentonhallestate.co.uk/the-food-hub/

This date night suggestion is completely free! 

Designated as a Dark Sky Discovery Site, the breathtaking village of Blythburgh is accessible by foot or car at postcode IP19 9NB. The site overlooks the Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve which comprises three reserves: Dingle Marshes, Walberswick and Hen Reedbeds.

The area offers extremely low light pollution and if you visit over the next month or so, you’ll benefit from the ideal stargazing conditions that the long Winter nights offer. View any number of different planets and constellations by the naked eye or over the cosy aspect of a shared telescope with your lover.

Take a thermos of coffee or soup, a blanket, turn off your phone and make the most of the chance to enjoy one of the most natural sights in the world - you’ll certainly be in the great company of countless former lovers gazing up to discover the beautiful night skies. 

If you both enjoy wine, then what could be a better date than to visit a winery where you can enjoy amazing wine in the unspoiled surroundings of a vineyard.

In 2007 Ben and Hannah Witchell decided to pursue their mutual interest of wine by quitting their jobs and travelling to some of the most famous winemaking regions in the world. They honed their skills and instincts and upon their return to the UK they searched out potential vineyard land in south Norfolk or Suffolk, wanting to set up in the area due to it being one of the driest and sunniest regions in the UK. 

Fast forward to their successful business – a state of the art winery called Flint Vineyard, set at Camphill Farm near Bungay, a partnership with farmer Adrian Hipwell, whose family has been resident at the site for generations. 

The experience lasts up to 2 hours and includes a guided tour of the winery, vineyard and cellar room accompanied by personal tutored tasting with Ben - the winemaker who will “unpick some of the mysteries of the wine-making process”. Learn why England is making some of the best wine in the world and enjoy a fantastic date which allows you both to drink wine in the very area that it is made!

Tours cost £12 and must be booked in advance. They run fortnightly on a Saturday until the end of March and then weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays until November.

https://flintvineyard.com/

The Electric Picture Palace is an intimate and cosy 70 seat cinema in Southwold. The palace was created by The Southwold Film Society who aim to give their patrons “the experience of cinema-going in the mid twentieth century”, stating that a “visit to the palace is not just about watching the film” – couples attending a film at the Palace can expect to be greeted by a commissionaire, shown to their seat by uniformed usherettes and see the “Tiny Wurlitzer” organ rising up mysteriously during the interval.  At the end of the showing, The National Anthem is played.

The Winter season is already scheduled and published and contains a mix of brand new features and blockbusters, local documentaries, B&W “Silver Screen” classics as well as national theatre live screenings with film showings every Friday and Saturday night.

Membership is required to attend screenings, but visitors are welcome and may join for a season at a cost of £3. Tickets are £6-8 or why not consider booking tickets in the royal box for £15 which offer a really secluded lovers feel. National theatre screenings tickets are £10. 

http://www.southwoldcinema.co.uk/

“Night and day, you are the one. Only you beneath the moon and under the sun” as Cole Porter wrote in his famous song for lovers. For anyone looking for another serene and natural experience, this might be the most romantic of them all… and best of it – it’s free! 

Get up early (thankfully, not too early during Winter) and make your way to Lowestoft’s Ness point; the most Easterly point in the country – there you’ll be the first tow people in the UK to see the sunrise. 

Ness point is situated behind Birds Eye factory and seems a very low-key attraction but does afford you a peaceful contrast to some of the other compass point attractions such as Lands End or John O Groats (no visitor centres or cafes so you can enjoy the unique experience with a loved one). 

If you have time to explore or take a lover’s walk afterwards, you’ll find that evidence of the towns thriving fishing trade still exists – immediately nearby Ness Point, you can see the old drying racks on the North Denes scrubland that fishermen used. In this area too, from the C17th - the 1950’s, there was a flourishing community called ‘The Beach’ which was home to thousands of people working in the fishing industry. The village was mostly destroyed by the 1953 floods which ravaged the East coast and the remaining cottages were demolished to make way for Commerce and industry (most notably Birds Eye) but some old cottages still exist underneath the old High Street (on top of the cliff), with shops being built or extended upon right on top of them!

To find out what time to set your alarm, you can see the sunrise tables here: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/lowestoft