Southwold Denes & Harbour

Southwold packs an absurd amount into one flight battery: the pier, the gleaming white lighthouse rising out of the town, ranks of pastel beach huts, and a working harbour mouth on the River Blyth lined with black tarred fishing sheds, with Walberswick's beach stretching away on the far bank. The trick is where you fly from. The town beach under the pier is heaving from Easter to September and the lighthouse stands among houses, so neither is sensible open-category territory in season. Launch instead from the Denes — the open shingle-backed grassland between town and harbour — and work the harbour mouth, the moored boats and long telephoto-style compressions back towards the pier. Offshore, the Sizewell complex looms far to the south for context shots. Wind funnels along the Blyth and the shingle bank kicks up surprising gusts; the harbour entrance also has genuine boat traffic, so keep altitude crossing it. Orford Ness, further down this coast, is strictly off-limits National Trust land — this stretch is the legitimate way to shoot the Suffolk coast. Go at first light in summer and you'll have the Denes to yourself.