The Beautiful Countryside of Essex
I thought I’d share with you some pictures I’ve taken of where I live in Essex. I wanted to show firstly that isn’t always raining in England (just most of the time) and that Essex specifically is a beautiful place to live.
Essex highlighted in red
Essex has a fairly ridiculous reputation for being full of white stilettos, fake tan and false eyelashes (with all roads leading to the Sugar Hut) but this simply isn’t so.
Being an ‘Essex Girl’ (we even have our own Wikipedia page, fairly amusing) I’ve had to put up with the stereotype my entire life. Even abroad, people have heard of ‘us’ and I get raised eyebrows and leers when I say where I’m from. Unbelievably even at the Vatican City! My friends and I were taking a tour whilst in Rome and when we told our tour guide where we lived he actually laughed in our faces. Easy to be cheerful when you live somewhere no-one pays taxes though.
So the town where I currently live is a kinda strange place. It was only developed in the 1970s and as such has no church or historical value (as most English towns do). It’s been described as ‘Toy Town’ or ‘a housing estate with an Asda in the middle’ or just plain ‘weird’. But it does have two really cool things about it:
1. Our street names are named after Lord of the Rings characters (my personal favourite is Gandalf’s Ride).
2. And we are surrounded by gorgeous countryside, nature reserves and lots of wildlife. I’ve heard the Cuckoo three times already this spring and that’s more than some people will in a lifetime (I hope my rock and roll lifestyle isn’t too much for you by the way). It’s a very quiet place to live basically, with a lot of greenery and space and fields.
So anyway these pictures I actually took last Sunday (8th May) on the hottest day of the year so far, all from the town where I live:
The absence of other people is brilliant isn’t it!
These next pictures were taken in Chelmsford, where I lived previously. I took them last summer in Hylands Park (most famous for hosting V Festival god help them) and it is a very lovely place indeed. As well as acres of fields and rivers to wander, there is also a huge, beautiful garden filled with a variety of flowers, trees and plants. It looks different every time I go there (kudos to the gardening team):
And lastly this is a picture I took in Beth Chatto Gardens in Colchester (which some of you may know anyway purely because it’s the oldest recorded town in the whole of the UK). There’s actually walls and walkways still erected (ooh matron) to this day, that were put there by the Romans. Anyway, another very lovely place. So as you can see, Essex isn’t all snooker halls, white shoes and TOWIE.
emmakwall (explains it all) 
I LOVE those pictures! So beautiful! I hope I get to visit someday.
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Thanks so much and I really hope you do!!!! 🙂
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I had NO idea Essex was so pretty
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That was my mission haha! For some reason Essex is portrayed as being a built up area and whilst some areas are like that, the majority of Essex is actually countryside. Where I live you can’t move for garden centers and tea rooms! I regularly get caught behind tractors on my way to work lol. I think people think of TOWIE or Lakeside and think the whole place is like that – but not so! 🙂
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Speaking as an outsider, I can confirm that the assumption is that yes, it’s all TOWIE!
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Haha 🙂 even before TOWIE we had the ‘Essex girl stereotype’ lol. Thanks Denise Van Outen!
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I cannot abide that woman. She certainly didn’t help!
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Bit harsh lol! 🙂
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I’m not wrong, though!
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These photos are beautiful! I’m longing to visit England again. Maybe I’ll stay in that house in the clouds!
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Nice pics! And all that precipitation does have the benefit of keeping things lush and verdant. England’s green and pleasant land, indeed. I suppose this is why the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns were filmed in Spain and not England.
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Nice one, Em. As you know, I am familiar with your manor, especially around Colchester and Maldon. (Though I have been to SWF too.) There is lots to love in Essex. Frinton is one of my favourite places, but unfortunately there is also Clacton, Jaywick, Thurrock, and Grays to put up with. You can’t have it all, I suppose…
As ever, Pete. XXX
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Thanks Pete! I hoped you’d see this one 🙂 how are you?
I went on Frinton on Saturday! How weird is that ha ha. I also work in Maldon 🙂 some of my family live there too. I’ve never even been to Thurrock or Grays (save the odd trip to Lakeside) though my boyfriend is originally from Dagenham! He’s very lovely though 🙂 I think some people think Essex is really small, like just Brentwood high street or something, but where I’ve always lived it’s full of fields, garden centers and tea rooms lol so I just wanted to share that! 🙂
As ever back xxx
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The Art Deco houses in Frinton are my dream location. I could wax lyrical about Essex, and I don’t even come from there. Layer Marney Tower, The Blackwater Estuary, Burnham on Crouch, all great to see. there is a lot more to the place than meets the eye. Even dull Tilbury has an amazing Elizabethan fort! I’m not too bad, thanks for asking honey. xxx
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I lived in Burnham-On-Crouch for the….majority of my childhood I suppose! My grandad still lives there, I spend a lot of time there 🙂 those blimmin’ Burnham bends!! I lived in the Dengie Hundred for a while as well – middle. of . nowhere!
We’re lucky living the South East 🙂
Aww “honey” love it!! xxx
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