EAST Anglia is the place to be beside the sea after a number of the region's beaches were named as among the best in the country. Anti-litter group Keep Britain Tidy has published a list of the country's cleanest rural beaches and suggested they are the place to go for anyone wanting to get fit and beat stress.

EAST Anglia is the place to be beside the sea after a number of the region's beaches were named as among the best in the country.

Anti-litter group Keep Britain Tidy has published a list of the country's cleanest rural beaches and suggested they are the place to go for anyone wanting to get fit and beat stress.

Aldeburgh, The Dip (Brackenbury Cliffs) at Felixstowe, Southwold Denes, Kessingland, Sizewell and Thorpeness were all picked out as highly recommended beaches in Suffolk, while Frinton-on-Sea in Essex also made the grade.

Celia Leggett, Aldeburgh deputy mayor, said: “Obviously it is always good to have this sort of thing. It is the result of people using the beaches and making the effort to keep them as tidy as possible, which is something that we try to encourage.

“I think if you have a clean beach then people will make more of an effort to keep it tidy because they have a greater sense of pride in its appearance.”

Cyril Webb, mayor of Felixstowe, said he thought the announcement was “splendid” news for the resort.

“Felixstowe is a great resort that loves to entertain. We are very popular and we enjoy people coming to visit and this is a nice feather in our cap.”

Elizabeth Betts, mayor of Southwold, said: “The Denes is a lovely place to walk and play and you can go down there at any time, regardless of the tide.”

Meanwhile in the coastal district of Tendring in Essex there are six beaches boasting yellow or blue flag status.

Frinton's “rural” beach has been named as highly recommended by Keep Britain Tidy while Clacton's Martello beach has been awarded a yellow “resort” flag.

Pierre Oxley, Tendring District Council's cabinet member for leisure services, welcomed the awards, saying he was hopeful that Martello Beach would also awarded blue flag status next month.

He said: “We are spending £12,000 on 600 new deck chairs, about £20,000 on new signs for the seafronts across the district - £10,000 of which will be at Martello and we will need to have a dog ban there between May and the end of September to help get the blue flag.”

He said Martello was the council's number-one priority because much of the sandy beach did not get covered by the tides.

Alan Woods, the chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “From Formby in Merseyside with its country park close by, to the idyllic seaside Suffolk town of Aldeburgh, all of the beaches offer a reminder of how picturesque the English coastline can be.

“We need to celebrate the diversity of our seaside more aggressively and push it as a place where you can enjoy everything from a morning surf, to a lively night out on the town,” he said.

n Tendring's flag winning “rural” beach is Frinton, and it also has five with 'resort' status - Walton-on-the-Naze's Albion beach, West beach in Clacton, Brightlingsea beach, Martello beach in Clacton and Dovercourt beach. Both Dovercourt and Brightlingsea already have the highest level of blue flag status.