Bury St. Edmunds—any one spent time there?

It's a while since I was there but I remember it being an attractive market town with a good range of shops with a lot of excellent cafes and restaurants. Do a google image search to get a feel for the town.

There is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, as well as a ruined abbey and gardens.

There is more information here and details of a walking guide here. Alternatively you could sign up for one of the guided walking tours.

Yes, it’s a very nice historic small place, with lots of beautiful old houses. A former in-law of mine just casually lived in an actual Tudor house. There’s also one of two of the oldest still-functioning theatres in England (the other is at Richmond in North Yorkshire) so try to catch a show. Lots of nice shops and restaurants to try. Just be careful your accommodation isn’t too near the big sugar beet factory on the outskirts. It has a distinctive strong (although not entirely unpleasant) smell.

I’m a big fan of Suffolk as a beautiful overlooked gem. The gorgeous village of Lavenham is nearby, with wonderful half-timbered buildings. It was one of the wealthiest towns in England once (wool!) and the buildings reflect that, but it’s preserved from that era due to changes in trade and industry!

Slightly further afield, there’s Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge with the astonishing story of the treasure hoard. Much of the treasure such as the famous mask is in the British Museum but you can try on a replica and see the burial mounds.

Suffolk is noted for its pink houses - originally painted with a kind of plaster mixed with animal blood I believe but possibly not now. Anyway, well worth a visit.

Also in Suffolk: a big US airbase (Mildenhall) and Newmarket, the home of British racehorse breeding and training.

Thanks so much! This info is extremely helpful. We are looking forward to a couple of days there.

I visited BSE last year and enjoyed exploring the town. I'd recommend a cathedral tour and time to visit the ruins behind the cathedral. It is only a quick train ride to Ely, another ancient town. The docent tour of the Ely Cathedral was excellent and I also recommend the Oliver Cromwell House. Ipswich is also about a half hour train ride from BSE. The harbor area is attractive and the Christ Church Mansion was worthwhile. Colchester is an hour from BSE by train. Again, an ancient town and I'd suggest visiting the Castle Museum. Kings Lynn is an hour away. Old city with lots of historic buildings to explore. The Warehouse Antiques store was a fun diversion. I'd describe it as granny's attic on steroids.

All these towns have long, and historically important, histories. They are all "walkable" and have plenty of preserved old buildings and locally-owned restaurants. If you plan to visit one or more of them, I'd suggest learning more by reading the individual city's tourist information websites and TripAdvisor.

I've only driven thru but it looked like a very nice town- and agree with others there's also lots of really nice places in the area (Ely, Sutton Hoo, Lavenham, Dedham Vale, and the Suffolk Coast). East Anglia in general is lovely and if you have time I would also recommend the north Norfolk coast.

I have to say reading the town as an acronym is a little jarring as here "BSE" normally refers to what is also called mad cow disease!

Wow! Thank you for all these great ideas of things to do in Bury St Edmunds and in neighboring areas. It seems that with day trips we could spend several days there! A lot of these things really appeal to us as we are very interested in cathedrals, churches, old town areas, historic sites, etc. Thank you!

I think Lavenham may have its own train station. We had a car in the area, which would make visiting other estate properties practical. We enjoyed the large Museum of East Anglian Life, which is partly outdoors. We were also interested in the track of the teen-novels of Arthur Ransome, the first of which is "Swallows and Amazons", which does not take place in Suffolk. But several of the other novels do. Friends booked a full-day sailboat tour for us to see the harbor of "We Didn't Mean To Go to Sea", and the mudflats of "Secret Water."

Lavenham Railway Station closed to passenger traffic as long ago as 1961, however there is an hourly bus from BSE to Colchester Railway Station- KonectBus 43- far more frequent than the train ever was, and normally scheduled as double deckers- https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/hedinghamandchambers/HEDO/43-timetable-20250831-77920c98.pdf

Sudbury (the half way point of the route) is also a railway station on a branch line of the Great Eastern/Greater Anglia route.

Konect may be an unknown name, but it is a rebrand of Hedingham and Chambers- a venerable old independent operator in the area.

BSE is a nice town with the ruins of an old Benedictine Abbey built in the 11th century but now in ruins after King Henry VIII Reformation. The gardens are pretty, depending on the time of year. If you get a chance, you could venture to Lavenham which has been mentioned. It is a lovely village that is easy to walk around. Kersey, Suffolk is another hidden gem and about 6 miles from Lavenham. Not many tourist find it, but I always take my American guests there. Lavenham does not have a railway station. Sudbury would be my suggestion then take a taxi to Lavenham. You could go into the Swan Hotel and call a taxi for your return trip. I don't take visitors to Colchester much these days and its 30 miles away from BSE. I just would not recommend putting this town on your list of priorities.

Long-Melford (14 miles) and Clare and (18 miles) also villages nearby to BSE and quite interesting and pretty.

There is also one of the smallest pub, The Nutshell in BSE you might want to pop in.

BTW The American Bases of Mildenhall (10 miles) and Lakenheath (12 miles) are near to BSE so there is still an American presence in the area. You typically don't see many military people around though.

isn31c

Hedingham and Chambers- that takes me down memory Lane! Red and cream buses.