Orford Ness
A short boat ride beyond Orford Quay lies mysterious Orford Ness, a 5-mile-long causeway of beaches and salt marshes that make up the longest shingle spit in Europe. Its past is cloaked in secrecy—from 1913 until the mid-1980s it served as a military site, and the first experiments with radar were carried out here in the 1930s. Today Orford Ness is a great place to see migrating and native sea birds. If you'd rather sit than walk, take the tractor-drawn trailer tour on the first Saturday of the month, July through September, but be sure to make reservations, as tours book up quickly.
