The Cambria Story

Robert Simper’s home has always been in Suffolk.  He was born in Blaxhall, grew up in Bawdsey and has lived most of his life in Ramsholt.  He led a conventional farming life until he had a bad back injury and turned to writing as well as farming and sailing.  He is best known for his series of books about the rivers on the East Coast of England, but has written extensively on traditional work boats all over the world and in 2010 the World Ship Trust awarded him a citation ‘for many years of helping to record and preserve so much of the country’s vintage sailing craft’.

Robert has written over 40 books since his first in 1967.  Many are now out of print – those that Bittern still have are highlighted with links to the product page.

East Anglian Books

• Over Snape Bridge (1967)
• Woodbridge and Beyond (1972)
• Suffolk Show (1981)
• East Anglian Coast & Waterways (1985)
• Suffolk Sandlings (1986)
• Woodbridge: A Pictorial History (1995)
• Suffolk: A Fine Farming County (2007)
• Woodbridge to the Coast (2008)
• Coastal Suffolk (2009)
• Coastal Essex (2011)
• Over Snape Bridge Revisited (2019)

• East Coast Sail (1972)
• Scottish Sail (1974)
• North East Sail (1975)
• Victorian and Edwardian Yachting (1978)
• Gaff Sail (1979)
• Sail on the Orwell (1982)
• Sail: The Surviving Tradition (1984)
• The Cambria Story (2012)

• British Sail (1977)
• Britain’s Maritime Heritage (1982)
• Beach Boats of Britain (1984)

• The River Deben (1992)
• The River Orwell and the River Stour (1993)
• Rivers Alde, Ore and Blyth (1994)
• Essex Rivers and Creeks (1995)
• Norfolk Rivers and Harbours (1996)
• Thames Tideway (1997)
• River Medway and The Swale (1998)
• Rivers to the Fens (2000)
• Up the River Deben (2006)

• In Search of Sail (1998)
• Family Fields (1999)
• Voyage Around East Anglia (2001)
• Creekside Tales (2004)
• The Best Crop (2014)

• Forgotten Coast (2002)
• Sunrise Coast (2002)
• The Lugger Coast (2003)
• The Barge Coast of Suffolk, Essex and Kent (2007)
• The Beachman’s Coast Suffolk (2015)