Aldeburgh's Martello Tower opens free on 19 and 20 September, its first public opening since 2019. Every coast event, with times and what you have to book.

The Martello tower at Slaughden, a mile south of Aldeburgh, opens to the public on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September. Admission is free. Its Heritage Open Days entry says it was last open to the public in 2019.

The tower is the largest and most northerly of the chain built against invasion by Napoleon, and the Landmark Trust has run it as holiday accommodation since repairing it in the 1970s. It is open from 10am to 4pm on both days, pre-booking is preferred through the Landmark Trust, and history sheets will be handed out.

That is one of more than twenty openings we confirmed along this coast during Heritage Open Days, which runs from Friday 11 to Sunday 20 September. This year’s theme is Everyday Histories: working life, crafts and routines rather than grand houses.

East Suffolk Council confirmed on Friday that it has given grants of up to £750 to thirteen local organisations to put their events on. Everything below was checked against each event’s own festival listing on 5 September 2026.

Woodbridge has one entry, and it takes twelve people at a time

Woodbridge Quay Church, Quay Street, IP12 1BX, is the only building in the town on the programme. It opens on Saturday 12 September, 10am to 5pm, and no booking is needed.

Its listing gives the practical detail that matters:

  • it is the oldest non-conformist church in Woodbridge, built in 1805, with internal changes in 1897 and 2013
  • it is Grade II listed, and the listing states that part of the building is Grade I
  • a maximum of twelve people are admitted at a time, for a visit of about 30 minutes
  • tea, coffee and cakes will be available
  • Quay Street is opposite the Riverside Theatre and almost opposite the railway station

Closer to home than anything else on the list is the Control Tower Museum at Martlesham Heath, about three miles from Woodbridge, which holds its annual showcase day on Sunday 13 September, 11am to 4.30pm. Parking is free. The Martlesham Heath Aviation Society lists songs, stalls, classic and military vehicles, a glider simulator and a Hawker Hunter cockpit, and asks visitors to bring cash for donations. The museum itself tells the story of the airfield from 1917 to 1963.

Aldeburgh, about 13 miles up the coast

Four separate openings, and two of them need thinking about in advance.

  • Martello Tower, Slaughden Road, IP15 5NA. Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 10am to 4pm. Free, pre-booking preferred. The access is the catch: it is about a mile from the town along rough shingle paths, then over a narrow wooden bridge, and the operator says capacity inside will be strictly managed with a queue once full.
  • Aldeburgh Museum, in the Tudor Moot Hall, Market Cross Place, IP15 5DS. Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 1pm to 4pm, free, no booking. Entry is up an external staircase, so it is not accessible to visitors with limited mobility.
  • The Red House, Golf Lane, IP15 5PZ, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears’ home. Open Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September, 10.30am to 4.30pm, no booking needed. Allow two hours. Dogs on leads are welcome in the garden.
  • Imogen Holst House, 9 Church Walk, IP15 5DU. Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September, 11am to 3pm, timed entry and pre-booking preferred. There is no parking on Church Walk and no toilets or refreshments at the house. Its listing says the bungalow, built for Holst by the modernist architect HT “Jim” Cadbury-Brown, was listed at Grade II “last February” on the advice of Historic England.

Leiston, about 13 miles away

The Long Shop Museum, Main Street, IP16 4ES, opens the exhibition Fabrication Flashbacks! on Saturday 12 September, 10am to 4pm, with free entry to the whole museum that day. It is built on an oral history project recording the memories of people who worked at Richard Garrett Engineering as the 200-year-old business came to an end. The exhibition then runs to the close of the museum’s season in November. The Cranbrook Gallery is a mezzanine reached only by a steep staircase; the ground floor is step free.

Leiston Quaker Meeting House, Waterloo Avenue, IP16 4HE, opens on Saturday 12 and Saturday 19 September, 11am to 4.30pm, with storytelling from Justine de Mierre at 1pm and 3pm on both days. Quakers have met in Leiston since the 1670s. The present building was designed by the Ipswich architect William Ribbans, built by Wright and Kemp, and cost £555 in 1860.

Felixstowe, about 10 miles south

The largest cluster on the coast, and the one place where booking is already a problem.

The council’s own tours of Martello Tower P are listed as sold out. The tower on Old Fort Road opens on Saturday 19 September, 11am to 2pm, with guided tours, a look down the hatch of the underground Royal Observer Corps post, and a children’s trail. Tickets are free, but the Eventbrite booking page showed sales as sold out when we checked on 5 September. The outdoor activities on Wireless Green run from 11am to 3pm and are open to all without a ticket.

Two festival listings exist for that same event and they disagree: one says pre-booking is preferred, the other that it is required. The council’s own page for the tower is the one to trust, and it gives Eventbrite or an email to felixstowe@eastsuffolk.gov.uk. That page also records that the council was awarded £87,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2025 to work up a long-term future for the tower.

Everything else in the town is free and most of it needs no booking:

  • Felixstowe Museum, View Point Road, IP11 3TW: Sunday 20 September, 11am to 4pm. The Felixstowe’s Changing Faces exhibition at the same address is listed separately across seven days, 11am to 4pm on 11, 12, 13 and 17 to 20 September. The Port to Port art installation is listed for Sunday 20 September, 10am to 3pm.
  • Felixstowe Town Hall, Undercliff Road West: Sunday 20 September, tours at 10.15am, 11am, midday, 2pm and 3pm, booking via Eventbrite.
  • Felixstowe Heritage Exhibition, Trinity Methodist Church, Hamilton Road: Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September, 10.30am to 3.30pm.
  • The Masonic Lodge, 19 Orwell Road: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 10am to 3pm. There is a chair lift at the stairs.
  • The History of Beach Huts, at The Hut on the promenade: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 10am to 4pm.
  • 7th Felixstowe Scout Hut, Mill Lane: Sunday 20 September, 11am to 3pm. The listing calls it the last chance to see the pre-war barrack block before it is dismantled and moved when the Scouts change site.
  • A Window to Felixstowe’s Past: historic pictures in the Hamilton Road shopfronts, viewable at any time, which is the Felixstowe Society’s grant-funded trail.
  • Felixstowe Ferry Walk (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20, 10.30am) and the Felixstowe Military History Walk from Landguard Fort (Sunday 20, 10am to 1pm) both need booking through Eventbrite. The Abbey Grove Walk off View Point Road (Sunday 20, 2pm) does not.

At Trimley St Mary, about seven miles from Woodbridge, the Two Sisters Arts Centre on High Road hosts an exhibition on the history and future of Trimley railway station, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 10am to 4pm. The station opened in 1891, was designed by the Great Eastern Railway’s chief architect W. N. Ashbee, and the listing says the Victorian Society has named it an endangered historic building. Parking is opposite.

Southwold, at the northern end of the district

About 22 miles from Woodbridge in a straight line, so a deliberate trip rather than a detour.

  • Southwold Railway Trust, Blyth Road, IP18 6AZ: Sunday 20 September, 1pm to 4pm. The ground is rough gravel with rails underfoot.
  • Southwold Arts Centre exhibition, St Edmunds Hall, Cumberland Road: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 11am to 4pm, with backstage tours at 12.30pm and 2pm.
Which Suffolk coast Heritage Open Days events need booking, September 2026 Table of booking requirements. The Martello Tower P tours in Felixstowe on Saturday 19 September were listed as sold out on 5 September. Felixstowe Town Hall tours on Sunday 20 September, the Felixstowe Ferry Walk on 19 and 20 September and the Felixstowe Military History Walk on 20 September all book through Eventbrite. Booking is preferred for the Martello Tower at Slaughden near Aldeburgh on 19 and 20 September and for timed entry to Imogen Holst House in Aldeburgh on 15 and 16 September. Every other coast event listed here needs no booking. What you have to book, and what has already gone Heritage Open Days on the Suffolk coast, 11 to 20 September 2026. Admission to every event is free. EVENTDATEBOOKING Martello Tower P tours, FelixstoweSat 19 SepSold out on 5 Sep Felixstowe Town Hall toursSun 20 SepEventbrite Felixstowe Ferry WalkSat 19, Sun 20 SepEventbrite Felixstowe Military History WalkSun 20 SepEventbrite Martello Tower, Slaughden, AldeburghSat 19, Sun 20 SepPreferred, Landmark Trust Imogen Holst House, AldeburghTue 15, Wed 16 SepTimed entry, preferred Every other coast event listed here11 to 20 SepJust turn up Source: each event's own Heritage Open Days listing and the Eventbrite sales page, checked 5 September 2026. Graphic by Suffolk Coast News.
The one thing worth doing today is booking. Felixstowe's Martello tours were free and are already gone; the two Aldeburgh houses ask for notice rather than requiring it.

What it means for you

Everything on the Heritage Open Days programme is free. That is the point of the festival, and it applies to museums that normally charge, which is why the Long Shop’s listing makes a point of free entry to the whole site on 12 September. Aldeburgh Museum charges £4.50 for an adult the rest of the year, on the prices we checked in August.

Three things are worth doing before you go:

  1. Check whether your event needs booking, today rather than on the day. The Felixstowe Martello tours have already gone. The Aldeburgh Martello, Imogen Holst House, the two Felixstowe walks and Felixstowe Town Hall all ask for booking or prefer it.
  2. Read the access notes. Several of the best buildings here are the least accessible: steps at Aldeburgh Museum, a shingle walk and a narrow bridge at Slaughden, a steep wooden staircase at Martello P, narrow rooms at Church Walk.
  3. Plan the parking. Aldeburgh’s town car parks are the sensible option for Slaughden, and there is none at all on Church Walk. East Suffolk’s car parks charge from 8am to 6pm every day including bank holidays, so an afternoon visit is a paying visit. Our parking guide for Woodbridge covers the local tariffs, and there is more on getting about the coast on our train times page.

The district’s wider programme also covers Beccles, Bungay, Halesworth and Lowestoft, on the other side of East Suffolk, and those events are on the same festival area list.

Sources