Art Holiday Travel and Vacation information for Essex

A county of eastern England, to the north of the Thames Estuary. Essex has no mountains or hills but the chalk uplands of the north-west make up for the lack of more rugged beauty. Being relatively flat, the county is easily accessible and can be readily enjoyed on foot or bike. The county town is Chelmsford which has a cathedral dating back to 1424. The inland towns of Coggeshall, Dedham and Ingatestone are all worthy of a visit.

Also worthy of a visit is Southend-on-Sea for a traditional seaside resort, and Saffron Walden and Thaxted as examples of pretty Essex towns. Finchingfield is supposedly the prettiest village in Essex, with black and white timbered houses around a village pond.

Quietly attractive countryside and villages in the North and on the coast, some good days out; traditional seaside resorts too Essex is gaining more and more places to visit - ones new to this Guide are the animal rescue centre joining the extraordinary secret nuclear bunker at Mistley, farm parks at Billericay and Wethersfield, and the Mark Hall estate at charming Coggeshall.
Top of our list for family visits is the double bill of toy museum and reconstructed Norman castle at Stansted, and Colchester's excellent zoo. That busy town has several other interesting and enjoyable attractions, too. Other places we'd pick out for children include the wildlife park at Widdington and the farm park at South Weald, while some will love the Heybridge barge basin at Maldon.On the whole, there's more for adults to enjoy here. Saffron Walden is a most attractive small town, with magnificent Audley End nearby. Other charming villages include Finchingfield, Dedham, Burnham-on-Crouch, Coggeshall and Castle Hedingham. Many of the churches are well worth a look, and the county has quite a few good gardens to visit - Beth Chatto's at Elmstead Market, Paradise Centre at Lamarsh (plenty to keep children occupied here), and the one at Rettendon. Other appealing places are St Osyth Priory and Layer Marney Tower - and in an entirely different way the nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch.North Essex has a real East Anglian flavour. Driving through, you pass lots of attractive houses right by the road, often with fine old timbering and distinctive colourwashed plasterwork - the intricate patterning on some is known as pargeting. The landscape gem is the Stour Valley, shared with Suffolk - a Countryside Commission special report in summer 1997 underlined growing concerns that Constable's famous landscapes here are endangered by mass tourism. The Blackwater/Crouch coast has a surprisingly remote feel, given London's closeness.South Essex is pretty densely urban.