Middleton, Suffolk

Darsham Marshes is a 20 hectare nature reserve south of Darsham in Suffolk, England. It is owned and managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This marsh and fen site has two ponds and a network of dykes. The wildlife is diverse and flowering plants include ragged-robin, yellow flag, marsh marigold and southern marsh orchid. There are birds such as marsh harriers and hen harriers, and mammals including otters and water voles. There is access from Westleton Road.

Westleton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is located 4 miles (6 km) north of Leiston and 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Saxmundham near the North Sea coast. The village is on the edge of the Suffolk Sandlings, an area of lowland heathland. The village lies along the B1125 road, 2 miles (3 km) to the east of the A12 and Darsham railway station. Westleton Heath National Nature Reserve is 0.5 miles (1 km) north east of the village. The heath is crossed by a minor road from Westleton to the coastal village of Dunwich, 2 miles (3 km) to the east. The famous Minsmere RSPB reserve lies immediately to the east of the village. The fourteenth-century village church of St Peter in Westleton was built by monks from Sibton Abbey near Saxmundham. The church has twice seen the collapse of its tower: in 1776 under the strain of hurricane winds; and during World War II, when the smaller wooden replacement had to be demolished following bomb damage. It is a grade II* listed building. Westleton retains some other basic services, helped by its proximity to the coast and Minsmere. These include a post office, two bookshops, a garage and two pubs, the White Horse and The Crown. The latter is a historic coaching inn dating from the 12th century. The bookshop, Chapel Books, has been depicted in print in Julie Myerson's 2003 novel, Something Might Happen, as the location for a seduction scene.

St Peter's Church is the parish church of Theberton in Suffolk, England, and in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is a round-tower church, and parts of the building date from the 12th century. The building is Grade I listed.

Theberton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is located 4 miles (6 km) north-east of Saxmundham, and 3 miles (5 km) miles north of Leiston, its post town. In 2011 the parish had a population of 279.

Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately 4 miles (6 km) north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. The name of the village of Darsham derives from Deores Ham — home of the deer. This name is borne out by early reference to local roadways as chaseways. There was hunting in this area as late as the 18th century. Darsham is a mixed community with six farms. The village still has a pub, The Fox, however over the past few years the village has lost its school, shop and post office. The garage on the A12, now primarily a petrol station, has a cafe and a shop. There is also a farm shop, a handmade tile factory, a pottery, a builder, an irrigation contractor, seed and feed merchants and a cafe, a private nursing home and a plant nursery with a shop and restaurant.

Royal Air Force Leiston or more simply RAF Leiston is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 km (0.93 mi) northwest of Leiston and 1 km (0.62 mi) south of Theberton, Suffolk, England.

Eastbridge is a village in the English county of Suffolk. It is located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Leiston, 2 miles (3.2 km) from the North Sea in the parish of Theberton, immediately south of the Minsmere RSPB reserve. It borders the Minsmere River which cuts through an area of drained and undrained wetland known as the Minsmere Level. Eastbridge Windpump, which stood on the Minsmere Level marshes, is preserved at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket. The marshes are also the site of the remains of the medieval chapel of St Mary which stands on the original site of Leiston Abbey. The chapel ruins date from the 12th-century and include a World War II pill box which was built into the walls to protect against invasion. The site is a scheduled monument. Located in Eastbridge is the Eels Foot Inn, an ale-house dating as far back as 1533 which obtained a full license to sell alcohol in 1950. Because of its proximity to the sea, the pub was a favourite stop of travellers, drovers and smugglers. The pub is the main feature of the small village. It is associated with folk music, and hosts a weekly gathering in which people sing songs and play folk tunes.

Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule (White canons), dedicated to St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 1112-1190), Chief Justiciar to King Henry II (1180-1189), it was originally built on a marshland isle near the sea, and was called "St Mary de Insula". Around 1363 the abbey suffered so much from flooding that a new site was chosen and it was rebuilt further inland for its patron, Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (1298-1369). However, there was a great fire in c. 1379 and further rebuilding was necessary. The house was suppressed in 1537. A Cartulary or monastic register survives. The Abbey's annual rolls of their court of wreck from 1378 to 1481 are a most important historical resource. A series of late visitations, and a list of abbots, are in Premonstratensian records. The impressive remains of the second abbey stand in the fields to the west of the road going north out of Leiston towards Theberton. After the Abbey was closed the estate was granted to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The Abbey became a farm, the farmhouse being built into the abbey walls. A Georgian frontage was added to the house, which was extended in the 1920s. In 1928 the ruins and farm were bought by Ellen Wrightson for use as a religious retreat. At her death in 1946 she bequeathed the house, ruins, land and buildings to the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It was purchased in 1977 to become the home of the Pro Corda Trust, a centre for the specialized education and training of chamber musicians. The site is managed by them, and is in the guardianship of English Heritage.

The River Yox is a river in the English county of Suffolk. It flows from the west of Peasenhall through Sibton and Yoxford where it becomes the Minsmere River. The Yox was originally fordable at Yoxford where a modern road bridge allows the A12 to cross the river. The river valley is largely drained and used as grassland with some arable use at Sibton. Some peat deposits are present. The valley has a narrow floodplain with water meadows and has largely been drained using a system of dykes.

Darsham railway station is on the East Suffolk Line in the east of England, serving the villages of Darsham and Yoxford, Suffolk, lying midway between the two communities. It is 26 miles 56 chains (43 km) down the line from Ipswich and 95 miles 35 chains (153.6 km) measured from London Liverpool Street; it is situated between Saxmundham and Halesworth. Its three-letter station code is DSM. It is managed by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains that call. The station-house is owned by Darsham Country Centre, a subsidiary of the Woodcraft Folk, and is run as a residential centre for youth groups.

Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-charging) day and boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around. It is run as a democratic community and is considered a Democratic School; the running of the school is conducted in the school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at which everyone has an equal vote. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. Members of the community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill's principle "Freedom, not Licence." This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they attend. It is an example of both democratic education and alternative education.

Potton Hall Fields, Westleton is a 16.7-hectare (41-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) west of Dunwich in Suffolk. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This site comprises two gently sloping fields on sandy, well drained soil. It has been designated an SSSI because it has a population of several thousand plants of the nationally rare red-tipped cudweed in large patches throughout the site. The plant is only found in two other counties in Britain. There is no public access to the site but it can be viewed from Sandlings Walk.