SAAF Bees

The Second World War airfield at Lowestoft isn't the sort of place you stumble across by accident. Tucked away near the Suffolk coast, SAAF Bees was home to South African Air Force squadrons during the war years - a proper slice of 1940s aviation history that most people drive past without a second glance.

What remains today is the skeletal framework of that era: scattered brick buildings, overgrown runways, and the kind of silence that makes you think about the roar of fighter engines that once filled this space. It's more atmospheric ruin than polished museum, which is exactly what makes it worth the visit. History buffs will find themselves genuinely moved by the remnants and the stories they tell. Kids might manage half an hour before the lack of interactive displays wears thin, but families interested in wartime aviation will spend longer poking around.

There's no formal visitor centre as far as I can tell, and access can be patchy - worth ringing ahead to check what's actually accessible on the day you're planning to visit. The landscape is flat and rather windswept, so dress accordingly. It's best visited as a half-hour detour rather than a destination in itself, perhaps paired with a broader exploration of the Lowestoft area.

If you're camping at Pigs in Blankets just down the road, it's worth a quick morning drive-by. Not life-changing, but genuinely moving if wartime history matters to you.