My love letter to the Suffolk Coast

There’s something about Suffolk that stays with you, especially when you’ve grown up by the sea.

For me, it always comes back to Felixstowe.

It’s the place that shaped how I see everything. The colours, the light, the constant movement of the sky. Living by the coast, you don’t really notice how much it influences you until you step away from it. And then you realise it’s in everything.

The Suffolk coast has its own rhythm. The steady pull of the tide, the sound of the sea against the shingle. It’s not polished or perfect, and that’s exactly why I love it. It feels real.

Some of my earliest memories are tied to it. Running down to the beach without thinking twice. Watching the horizon change colour as the day shifts. That sense of space, of freedom, is hard to explain unless you’ve felt it. It’s something that stays with you.

And it still inspires me now.

A lot of what I create comes from these places. The lines of the coastline, the shapes of the beach huts, the textures in the clouds. Even the quieter moments, like the way light hits the water on a grey day or how everything softens just before sunset. Those are the details I’m always drawn back to.

What I love about Suffolk is that it doesn’t shout for attention. It’s quieter than that. You have to look a little closer, spend a bit more time with it. But when you do, it gives you so much.

The coast especially has this way of grounding you. No matter what’s going on, you can walk along the front, listen to the sea, and things feel a bit clearer. A bit calmer. It’s not just where I’m from. It’s a constant source of ideas, of comfort, of familiarity. This is why I keep coming back to it in my work. Why the colours, the shapes, the feeling of the coast keep showing up. Because it’s part of how I see the world.

Suffolk, and especially Felixstowe, will always be that for me.