Top Ten Things To Do In Essex

Top Ten Things to do in Essex

Go twitching at Rainham Marshes
Since the year 2000, when it was acquired by the RSPB, Rainham Marshes has slowly been restored into natural marshland, after being closed to the public for 100 years and used as an army shooting range.

The nature reserve, near Purfleet, is right next to the Thames. Its super-cool visitor centre, which has won various architectural awards, has huge windows overlooking the marshes, along with a shop, café and children’s adventure playground.

Follow the boardwalk paths to spot wading birds. Autumn visitors include sandpipers, marsh harriers and whinchats. You may also see cute water voles, and perhaps even the mighty peregrine falcon.

Toddle around Beth Chatto Gardens
How do you grow plants on a boggy wasteland with poor soil? The answer can be found at these remarkable gardens at Elmstead Market, near Colchester.

Mrs Chatto and her husband began their life’s work in 1960, and slowly turned a complete mess into beautiful gardens, using plants that uniquely suited this difficult environment.

The Gravel Garden, which is planted to look like a dried-up riverbed, with plants that can resist drought, has become famous. Elsewhere there are water gardens, alpine plantings and marshy areas, all beautifully planted in a way that’s now become known as ‘eco-gardening’.

Have fun on the world’s longest pier
Southend Pier really is long – walk right to the end and back and you’ve covered the best part of three miles. You can, however, cheat and get the train to the end.

There are great views from the pier head, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution station, which has a meuseum telling the history of the lifeboats, and gift shop.

There’s a Pier Museum too, where you can play vintage, penny slot machines and sit in the old trains that once took people up and down the historic, grade II-listed structure.

Explore Colchester Castle Museum
Explore this Norman castle, along with the remains of the Roman temple beneath, at this excellent historical attraction. You get to try on a toga, feel the sheer weight of Roman armour, and touch Roman pottery. There’s also a bronze statue of the god Mercury, and ancient gold coins.

Learn about how Queen Boudica destroyed the town in AD60, and how, in the 17^th-century, suspected witches were imprisoned in the castle by the Witchfinder General.

Take a tour with a Blue Badge Guide and you’ll get to see the vaults of the Roman temple of Claudius that lies beneath the Norman construction.

Related links:
www.colchestermuseums.org.uk
Book a local Haven holiday park

Unearth Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker
Delve into the intrigues of Cold War paranoia in this huge bunker north of Brentwood. At one time, this place was equipped to hold 600 military and civilian personnel, possibly including the prime minister, in the event of nuclear attack. They would be tasked with organising the survival of the British population. Scary stuff.

Before it was decommissioned in 1992 and sold back to the family who own the surrounding farm, it was costing the government up to £3 million a year to keep at the ready.

These days, you can take a self-guided tour, complete with audio handset, and learn the fascinating history of one of Britain’s long-hidden secrets.

See where the wild things are at Colchester Zoo
The newest attraction at this top zoo is the £1.75 million Orangutan Forest, home to Rajang, a male orangutan. Book a Keeper Shadowing experience and you can see him having lunch, and learn how the keeper looks after him.

Other popular primates include the spider monkeys and capuchins. You’ll find meercats on parade, and in the Aquatic Zone you can watch the Humboldt penguins being fed at noon. Perhaps the most beautiful animal is the Bengal white tiger, Sasha: 40 stones of power and grace.

With all this, plus the Wild About Animals theatre, falconry displays and Ark Adventure play area, it’s a great day out.

Learn how they used to live at Audley End House and Gardens
Step back in time at one of England’s most important Jacobean houses. Admire the lavish interiors, including rooms designed by Robert Adam, and view the works of old masters such as Holbein and Canaletto.

To see how the other half lived, experience the new Audley End 1880 attraction, where costumed kitchen hands show you just how hard the work was for the downstairs people.

Outside, take a stroll round the parkland designed by Capability Brown, gasp at the floral wonderland of the 19^th-century parterre, and wander round the kitchen gardens, which grow historic varieties of fruit and veg.

Take your bucket and spade to Walton on-the-Naze
This charming, sleepy Victorian resort has miles of sandy beaches and promises lots of good old-fashioned seaside fun.

Away from the beach, explore the quaint, narrow streets and seafront gardens, walk the pier and check out the saltmarshes where a colony of seals have established themselves.

The Naze is a headland north of the town, which has a nature reserve and is frequented by migrating birds. Its tower, built as a guide for ships, may not be around forever: the naze’s 70-foot-high cliffs are eroding by an alarming 2 metres a year.

Segway around Braxted Park
If you’ve ever wanted a ride a Segway (haven’t we all?) there’s now a centre dedicated to the ‘personal transporters’ at Braxted Park, near Witham.

A zoot around on the vehicular choice of Gob in the sitcom Arrested Development is certainly a fun experience. There are more than 500 acres of parkland at your disposal at Braxted Park Golf Club, and families or individuals can ‘pay and play’ for an hour, or take a guided tour around the estate.

You can even arrange a game of futuristic Segway polo for you and your family or friends. Have a good chukka!

Take a walk in Constable country
Straddling the borders of Essex and Suffolk, Dedham Vale is known as Constable Country, as the famous landscape artist lived here and captured its bucolic scenery in his paintings.

Designated an Area of Natural Beauty, it’s a great place for a walk. The Stour Valley has two long-distance footpaths, the Essex Way and the Stour Valley Path, and a number of self-guided trails of various distances.

There are pretty villages and towns, such as Dedham itself, to discover, and the full quotient of hospitable country pubs en route.