Ten footpaths and bridleways at Dunwich and Westleton are closed until 19 February 2027. The heath, beach, car park and tea-room are shut too.

Ten public footpaths and bridleways at Dunwich and Westleton have been closed until 19 February 2027 because of the wildfire that burned across Dunwich Heath in late July. The closure took effect on Thursday 20 August and runs for six months.

Suffolk County Council’s register of temporary closures lists them as Dunwich FP2, BR1, FP18, FP16, FP17, BR14 and FP15, together with part of Westleton FP17, BR18 and FP19. The stated reason is short: “In the interests of public safety, the footpaths and bridleways are closed due to the wildfire at Dunwich Heath.” (Suffolk County Council, temporary traffic regulation orders on public rights of way)

That order lands as a shorter restriction runs out. Natural England excluded public access from the open access land, the King Charles III England Coast Path and the coastal margin around Dunwich from 3 August until today, 22 August. (Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, Dunwich Heath incident updates) The council’s own six month closure now covers the named paths well beyond that date.

What is still shut

The National Trust owns Dunwich Heath and the adjoining beach, and its own closure is separate from the council’s and has no end date attached to it.

  • The heath: closed
  • The beach: closed
  • The car park: closed
  • Visitor information, the tea-room and the kiosk: all closed

The Trust’s opening times table shows every one of those marked closed for today, and its notice says there is “no vehicle or pedestrian access at this time”. It is asking people to stay away until a full impact and safety assessment can be carried out, after a fire it says destroyed more than 100 hectares of heathland habitat. It gives no reopening date, saying only that it looks forward to welcoming visitors back “when it is safe to do so”. (National Trust, Dunwich Heath and Beach)

RSPB Minsmere, where the fire started, has gone the other way. It reopened to visitors on Wednesday 19 August, dawn to dusk, with several paths still shut and a request that everyone checks in at the visitor hub first for guidance on which areas to avoid. (RSPB Minsmere)

A second, unrelated closure affects the same stretch of coast walking. Westleton FP5 in part, Blythburgh FP12 and Walberswick FP35 have been shut since 7 August because of damaged boardwalks, and that order runs to 6 February 2027.

How the fire ran

The fire was reported at 4.49pm on Wednesday 29 July at RSPB Minsmere and spread into the National Trust heath. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service ran it as a major incident for twelve days. Its own log of the response is the fullest public account of what happened.

Timeline of the Dunwich Heath wildfire: fire reported 29 July, major incident declared, 150 hectares burning by 30 July, major incident stood down 10 August, fire service leaves site 12 August, Natural England access exclusion ends 22 August, council footpath closures run to 19 February 2027.

At its height the fire covered around 150 hectares, and roughly 112 hectares were an active fire area in the following week. About 600 Suffolk firefighters were involved, drawn from all 35 of the county’s fire stations, with support from 18 fire and rescue services elsewhere in the country. At peak, 20 pumps and around 120 firefighters were on scene at once. Crews cut five kilometres of firebreaks, 15 metres wide, right around the site. No properties were lost and no casualties were reported. (Suffolk County Council, 5 August 2026)

The major incident was stood down on Monday 10 August. The last fire service resources left the site at 5pm on Wednesday 12 August, and the land was formally handed back to the owners that afternoon. Even then the service asked people to keep away, because the area was still being treated as a fire scene.

The reason the closures outlast the flames is underground. Heathland burns downward into peaty soil and root systems, where heat can sit for weeks with nothing visible above ground, and where the surface can give way. The fire service has described significant heat remaining beneath the ground, creating a risk of burns and unstable ground.

What it means for you

If you were planning to walk here over the bank holiday weekend, choose somewhere else. The heath, the beach and the car park are all shut, so there is nowhere to park and nowhere to walk from. The King Charles III England Coast Path across the site is closed as well, so the coastal route past the heath is not walkable.

Do not treat an empty site as an open one. The council’s warning during the emergency was blunt about this: people should not enter closed areas even where no emergency personnel are visible.

Dunwich village itself is open. So are the businesses in it, and the council has encouraged visitors to keep supporting them while the heath is out of action. (Suffolk County Council, 10 August 2026)

If you want to walk this coast anyway, Minsmere is open dawn to dusk, and the things to do around Woodbridge page covers alternatives inland. For what is shut on the roads, our roadworks and travel page is updated through the week.

We could not confirm today whether Natural England has extended its access exclusion beyond 22 August. The council’s footpath closures stand regardless, and they run to February.