Background Information

Waldringfield is a small village situated on the west bank of the River Deben estuary.

It is four miles from the historic market town of Woodbridge and eight miles from Ipswich. The village is surrounded by farmland and lies within the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The settlement grew up on a bend in the river, four miles from the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, and one of only a handful of places between Woodbridge and Felixstowe where a shingle beach provides easy access between water and land.

The Deben Estuary is beautiful, its banks relatively unspoilt by development.  
The village architecture reflects a mixture of the old and new developing from its agricultural past, through a period of industry to the current tourist destination of today.

The medieval Parish Church of All Saints, with its Tudor red-brick tower, stands on higher ground to the south of the village. It is said that a church has existed on this site for 700 years and there is some evidence that it was an Anglo-Saxon burial site in pre-Christian times.

The Maybush Inn, originally a farmhouse, dates from the middle of the 14th century. The property was probably licensed around 1745.

The hamlet of Waldringfield Heath lies about half a mile away from the centre of the village and has around a dozen properties and a thriving Baptist Chapel and Golf Club.

The village's history is industrial. See the History pages for more information 

Visitors in the early days were few, and yachts were practically unknown. Woodbridge was then the recognised centre for yachts and pleasure craft. This has changed in more recent years as yachting and dinghy sailing has become more popular.

Waldringfield was but a small agricultural and industrial community, giving little time or thought to the beauties and attractions of the Deben. Unlike the present time.

Today Waldringfield is an attractive village, at the end of a no-through road with a small, but popular beach. There are no public toilets at the beach. Parking for Patrons can be found at the Maybush Public House, and it also provides a pay and display car park which is available to the general public. 

The village is currently perceived to be under enormous threat from potential new residential developments in the surrounding areas. The fears for the future of our village, should the development go ahead, are road congestion and the inability to cope with significantly higher visitor numbers. The villagers want to retain the current balance of holiday atmosphere with times of peace and tranquillity, both for ourselves and for the many visitors we welcome here throughout the year.