Thorpeness village is something if an oddity as it has the look of a tradditional Suffolk Village, but its history only goes back to about 1910. At that time, a large part of the surrounding land was bought up by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie – a successful barrister who had made a fortune from developing railways – and he decided to develop the village as a holiday destination for his friends and family, adding a golf course, a large boating lake and numerous holiday homes in a mock tudor style. Several islands and features around the lake were named after locations from Peter Pan, whose author JM Barrie was a friend of the Ogilvies.  The village remained in the Ogilvie family until the 1970’s, when it was gradually sold off.

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Location and Parking

Post Code: IP16 4NW

Thorpeness can be reached along the B1353 from Leiston or along the coast along Thorpe Road from Aldeburgh. When the boating lake comes into sight in the centre of the village, there is a pay and display car park opposite the boat hire building. Alternatively, you may be able to park on a street somewhere in the village.

The House In The Clouds

The most unusual building in the village is the House In The Clouds, which was originally the water tower feeding the village. To disguise its appearance it was clad in wood to make it appear to be a house floating above the village. Today the house is available to rent as a holiday home.  It can be seen from many locations around the village, but the only full length view is from the golf course, which is reached at the end of Lakeside Avenue. From the golf course car park, a path leads back skirting a driving range where the full length of the house can be seen.

Thorpeness Windmill

Thorpeness Windmill is adjacent to The House In The Clouds, and is an old corn mill, originally built in 1803 and moved to its present location in 1923 to pump water into the adjacent water tower. This role was replaced by an engine in 1040, after which the WIndmill was disused, but sold into private ownership in 2010. It is difficult to get any distant view of the windmill, so a wide angle lens is required, and even then a stitched panorama may be required, as in the second image below.

Thorpeness Meare

Thorpeness Meare is a large artificial boating lake, extending to 60 acres, but only three feet deep. It was dug out manually, and the shallow depth was to make it safe for children. There are several islands in the meare and these and other features around the lake are named for locations from Peter Pan. Most of the photographic interest is around the boathouse end of the lake, where the colourful hire boats make an interesting foreground.

Thorpeness Beach

Thorpeness Beach is a wide shingle beach backed by numerous villas and cottages, which is reached directly from the car park listed above. There are really only two features of interest to the photographer – one is a cairn to the south of the car park which is a recent addition, built in May 2021 by a local man named Henry Fletcher. The cairn is built from Coralline Crag, a type of marine sandstone containing numerous fossils. This is a temporary addition, as it is expected that one day it will be reclaimed by the sea.

To the north of the car park the other interest is a row of colourful terraced houses known as The Headlands, dating from the 1930’s.

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