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We are the local specialists in selling campervans in your area. We will sell your motorhome in Royston, Saffron Walden, Buntingford and Braintree. Get the best price for your motorhome in Great Dunmow, Bishops Stortford, Hertford and Harlow. We have motorhome buyers for you in Witham, Chelmsford, Maldon, Epping, Chipping Ongar and Billericay.
Essex (/ˈɛsɪks/) is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south and Greater London to the south and south-west. The county town is Chelmsford, the only city in the county. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region.[3][4]
There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county with the smallest being the administrative county – the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea and the areas administered by the Greater London Authority.
The ceremonial county occupies the eastern part of what was, during the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas, the county also includes London Stansted Airport, the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, Lakeside Shopping Centre, the port of Tilbury and the borough of Southend-on-Sea.
Saffron Walden is a picturesque, medieval town, in north-west Essex, just 15 miles south of Cambridge. It has a rich heritage of old buildings reflecting its wealth as a rural market town.
There are many interesting historic buildings in the town. At the heart lies St Mary’s Church, the largest parish church in Essex. Fine examples of elaborate moulded plasterwork (pargetting), can be seen on the Old Sun Inn and the houses in Castle Street & Bridge Street. Also of note are the Eight Bells, the timber-framed Cross Keys, and the medieval building located at 1 Myddylton Place.
Nearby, Saffron Walden Museum is of particular interest. The collections are housed in one of the oldest purpose built museum buildings in the country, completed in 1835. It has everything from mammoth tusks to mummies, from an early Tudor bed to a natural history museum gallery. In the grounds of the museum are the ruins of the Castle Keep which dates back to the 1130s or 40s.
Bridge End Garden is a real jewel and an environment of great charm on the north side of Saffron Walden. Careful restoration has replicated gardening techniques and designs typical of the Victorian era and brought the garden back to its full splendour. The wonderful hedge maze is of particular appeal to children. The path into the garden passes the Fry Art Gallery which houses a collection of works by a Great Bardfield group of artists who settled in the Essex countryside in the 1930s. The attractive Common is the oldest of Saffron Walden’s open spaces and on its eastern side is the largest turf labyrinth still surviving in Europe. Children of all ages enjoy following the ‘path’ through the turf, which winds for about one mile within a circle 100 feet (30.5 meters) in diameter.
We have a coach park at Swan Meadow Car Park, which can accommodate up to 6 coaches. Swan Meadow is a 5 minute walk to the town centre. There is a possible coach drop-off point nearer the town centre, on Common Hill.
A market has been held here since 1141, and market days are now Tuesdays and Saturdays with shoppers enjoying browsing and buying goods from a variety of market stalls. Beyond the market place, there are many independent shops and eating places to choose from.
Hertford (/ˈhɑːrtfərd/ HART-fərd) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.[1][a]
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, near its confluences with the rivers Mimram, Beane, and Rib. The Lea is navigable from the Thames up to Hertford. Fortified settlements were established on each side of the ford at Hertford in 913 AD. The county of Hertfordshire was established at a similar time, being named after and administered from Hertford. Hertford Castle was built shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and remained a royal residence until the early seventeenth century.
Hertfordshire County Council and East Hertfordshire District Council both have their main offices in the town and are major local employers, as is McMullen's Brewery, which has been based in the town since 1827. The town is also popular with commuters, being only 20 miles (32 km) north of central London and connected to it by two railway lines. One possible earlier mention of the town was in 673 AD: the first synod of a number of the bishops in England was held either in Hertford or at Hartford, Cambridgeshire.[5] The synod was called by Theodore of Tarsus; decisions included the calculation of the date of Easter.[6]
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 913 AD, Edward the Elder ordered the construction of two burhs (earthwork fortifications) either side of the ford over the River Lea at Hertford as part of his campaign against the Danes.[7][b]
By the time of the Domesday Book, Hertford had two churches, two markets and three mills. The Normans began work on Hertford Castle, and Hertford Priory was founded by Ralph de Limesy.[19] King Henry II rebuilt the castle in stone, but in 1216, during the First Barons' War, it was besieged and captured after 25 days by Prince Louis of France.[20] The castle was regularly visited by English royalty and in 1358, Queen Isabella, wife of Edward II, died there. The priory was dissolved in 1536 and subsequently demolished[19] and in 1563, the Parliament of England met at the castle because of an outbreak of plague in London. Hertford grew and prospered as a market and county town; communication was improved by the construction of the Lea Navigation Canal in 1767 and the arrival of the railway in 1843.[21] The Port Hill drill hall was completed in 1898 and Yeomanry House was brought into military use in 1910.[22]
Witham is located in the very heart of Essex and is situated between Chelmsford and Colchester and is approximately eight miles from Braintree. Over the centuries Witham has been a cloth making centre, spa and a coaching town and for many years it was the home of the novelist and theologian, Dorothy L. Sayers - a statue stands in the town centre dedicated to her to this day and her former home now has a blue plaque commemorating her.
Running through the town is the River Brain which provides riverside walks along its banks through wild areas which are home to birds, insects and various flowers and fauna. The town itself is a mixture of old and modern buildings and has all of the amenities that a visitor could wish with a wide array of public houses, restaurants and independent shops. The town also has a number of leisure facilities such as several playing fields, a skate park, football club, rugby club and a leisure centre.
Annual events in Witham include Witham Open Gardens, a Medieval Fayre, a Carnival, Witham International Puppet Festival, a Charity Firework Display and the Town Carol Service.
When you visit Maldon, you will find this ancient Essex town, with its oldest part sitting high on a hill overlooking the Blackwater estuary, has a rich and varied history just waiting to be explored. The town of Maldon itself is especially famous for the Hythe Quay, home to many of the remaining Thames Barges. A variety of short trips from Maldon are available on these ancient craft, and also the Viking Saga. Promenade Park is probably the most visited location in Maldon and was originally created on the sloping bank of the River Blackwater over one hundred years ago. Popular with visitors and Maldon residents alike, this park is the centre of summer fun with playgrounds and various children's activity areas including the very popular Splash Park and is also the location for the famous Maldon Mud Race and other annual and special events including the ever popular fireworks display in November. You can even hire a beach hut for the day and relax with a picnic.
Chipping Ongar (/ˈtʃɪpɪŋ ˈɒŋər/) is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) east of Epping, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Harlow and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 the built-up area had an estimated population of 6420.[1] In 1961 the parish had a population of 1673.[2]Chipping Ongar is at the convergence of several old roads, between Chelmsford and Epping on an east–west axis and between Dunmow and Chigwell (beyond which is London) on a north–south axis. To the southeast lies Brentwood, on the old road to the former River Thames ferry crossing at Tilbury, though the building in the 1970s of the M11 and M25 motorways means that Ongar is no longer directly on a principal route for petrol tankers (and other less prominent vehicles) travelling from the current Dartford Crossing and the Thames Estuary oil refineries.
The civil parish of Ongar, which has a town council, includes from north-to-south Shelley, Chipping Ongar and Marden Ash, with Greensted to the southwest.
The central part of Ongar High Street comprises a widened main street of the type found in many older English towns whose status as market towns is believed to have originated during the (little chronicled) Saxon period. This historic thoroughfare is lined with over 70 listed buildings and protected by the Chipping Ongar Conservation Area, one of the first to be designated by Essex County Council nearly 50 years ago. The wide high street is used to permit some 'no charge' short-term parking that benefits the local shops. The high street does, however, retain a very narrow stretch, with shops and houses either side very close to the road due to pavements that are barely adequate for two people to pass each other.
Much of the surrounding countryside is occupied by large mechanised farms devoted, for the most part, to arable agriculture. During the 20th century the proximity of London encouraged dairy farming, but the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were characterised by the removal of hedges and an increase in average field sizes as cattle numbers diminished. This policy was gradually reversed from the 1990s with schemes to replant hedges and trees. The subsoil is of heavy clay, rendering the land too soggy in winter for sheep.
