Shingle Street

One of Suffolk's most atmospheric places, and a photographer's dream: a remote hamlet strung along a vast vegetated shingle spit, with a Martello tower, coastguard cottages, the famous white shell line, and saltmarsh lagoons behind. Access is a single-track lane ending at a small free car park, informally permitted by local landowners, so park considerately. The foreshore is Crown Estate, and take-off from bare shingle near the road is fine. The big caveat is wildlife: this is SSSI-quality shingle with ground-nesting ringed plover and oystercatcher, so between roughly March and August you must avoid low flights over the vegetated ridges and any roped nesting areas. Fly autumn or winter and you get the desolate, elemental mood at its best with a clear conscience. There are no facilities and no crowds beyond a handful of summer visitors, so it feels genuinely wild. Winds come straight off the North Sea with nothing to break them, so a sub-250g machine needs a calm window. Keep launches on the open lower shingle rather than the plant-covered banks, both for legality and to protect the fragile habitat.