A few weeks ago I was commissioned by one of my favourite brands Joules to document and photograph their Beach Clean event. They were running sessions with the Marine Conservation Society across beaches in the UK along with Coast magazine to raise awareness of looking after our seas and protecting the wildlife within them. I was thrilled to be asked along to shoot the event and I happened to be going to Aldeburgh which if you’ve followed my blog for a little while you will know that it is one of mine and my families favourite seaside towns. There are two Joules shops on Aldeburgh high street, one for kids-wear and another for women and men.
With the sun shining, Ollie and I drove down from London on the morning of the event. We both fully embraced the sunshine and decided to wear shorts which may have been a little ambitious, but that’s all part of being British. The sun comes out so its an opportunity to dress for warmer weather, even if it is windy on the coast, the sun is shining. Getting to combine a shoot and visiting one of my favourite places in the country has to be the epitome of nailing the work/life balance, if only every weekend could be this lovely.
The beach clean was a huge success and we had such a lovely group of volunteers along with five adorable dogs, featured in lots of photos below, and our leader Kate from the Marine Conservation Society was so informative and engaging. We managed to collect 10kg of litter/rubbish in a 100 metre stretch of the beach which was hugely surprising as Aldeburgh is one of the cleanest beaches I know. The event was very eye-opening and made us all realise how we do need to act upon these results. Everyone can act together by making small changes with the way we live our lives to make a huge difference globally. There’s loads more information about the Marine Conservation Society and the amazing work they do along with tips and advice about positive changes you can make to help on their website. Linked here.
Once we’d finished the beach clean, we headed back to the Joules store for a little browse and purchased a few pieces, all of which I will link below, before saying goodbye to the volunteers and wonderful Joules team. Ollie and I headed to our hotel to check in for the evening. Followed by a walk on the beach before grabbing a fish and chips for dinner. If you know Aldeburgh then you’ll know that their fish and chips are amazing, and I’ve gone as far as to say the best fish and chips in Britain and I’m not giving away that title lightly. Maybe it’s the combination of eating it on the pebble beach and staring out at the sea, but it’s always one of my favourite parts of visiting Aldeburgh.
Whenever we visit we have a check list of sorts of places to go and things to eat. On the Sunday my parents drove down to meet Ollie and I for the day and they brought along Beau too. So if you haven’t visited Aldeburgh before and are planning a visit, or you like me are a fellow Aldeburgh visitor and lover here’s my checklist whenever we visit.
Aldeburgh Visit Checklist
- Grabbing a good coffee, this one’s essential for starting a jam packed day. My two faves are ‘East Coast Store‘ and ‘Chopping’s Hill’. Both also serve food and yummy sweet treats, which sometimes are too hard to resist.
- Walk along the beach to ‘The Scallop’ sculpture created by local-born artist Maggi Hambling as a tribute to Benjamin Britten, a composer and past Aldeburgh resident, who used to take his afternoon walks along the beach.
- Aldeburgh Fish & Chips shop, this prestigious chip shop has two locations at either end of the high street and without doubt there is usually always a queue but trust me it’s worth the wait.
- Ice Cream could you really visit the seaside and not have an ice cream our favourite places are Ives Ice Cream Parlour and a new addition to the high street Harris & James which have the most delicious homemade gelato!
I really hope you’ve liked this round up from our weekend in Aldeburgh for the Joules beach clean and do drop me a message if you visit.
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