Why? It's a lovely little Suffolk town - great bookshops, great cinema, great food shops.

The best thing: It's on the Deben, an unspoilt river with no flashy marinas or waterside executive apartments but plenty of hidden creeks.

My ideal day: Kippers and soda bread for breakfast. Then clamber aboard our boat (a 60-year-old ketch) and head down river, maybe pausing for lunch or dinner at the Ramsholt Arms. Sleep on the boat, revelling in the stillness and silence.

My advice: Make few definite plans: whimsical impulses are more fruitful.

Getting there: The station at Woodbridge (National Rail 08457 484950, nationalrail.co.uk) is only a minute or two from the river.

Where was your best holiday? Woodbridge apart, a villa holiday near Chania in Crete a few years ago.

Where do you want to go next? I long to return to Sri Lanka.

What do you never travel without? Books.

· Francis Wheen's latest book, Hoo-Hahs And Passing Frenzies, is published in paperback by Atlantic at £6.99.