Where to go: The Essex Coast – 350 miles of superb beaches, rich culture and tranquility

With well-known Southend-on-Sea as its neighbour, Leigh-on-Sea brims with charm and character and makes an excellent starting point for an exploration of Essex’s coast.

This is a town where you can step back in time along Old Leigh’s exquisite high street. It is a cobbled delight stuffed with creaking, superbly named pubs such as the Olde Smack Inn and rows of shops selling freshly landed cockles, mussels and whelks.

Up above the town you can gaze across the Thames estuary and Essex marshes from the scattered ruins of 13th century Hadleigh Castle, once deployed by Edward II, and later painted by Constable. Another fine vantage point to take in this landscape of magnificently eroding coastlines is via the spiral steps of the navigation tower at Naze Tower and Nature Reserve near Horsey Island.

The Essex coast also gives way to many estuaries, including the vast Blackwater estuary where you will find Le Bouchon Hotel featuring exposed beams and four-poster beds. Afternoon tea here, of sweet and savoury treats, is something of an event while the restaurant offers high-quality food that emphasises the nearby sea and farming hinterland: choices range from lightly spiced smoked haddock to beef bourguignon with savoy cabbage. The hotel also offers a ‘sail and dine’ option where you can enjoy a pre-dinner trip around the nearby waterways in the hotel’s private launch.

Thorpe Bay is a small community adjacent to the popular seaside destination of Southend but, with its pier, meandering waterways and options for locally sourced seafood, it is a different world when it comes to indulgence. The Roslin Beach Hotel is an eclectic mix of luxury and regal, with its interiors inspired by 1920s Art Nouveau and classic coastal aesthetics. Wander onto the beachside terrace for a cocktail or brunch and dine in the AA 2 rosette restaurant where the creative chefs will serve up a brown crab crumpet followed by skate wing. In between such delights, you can drop into Southend’s Focal Point Gallery, a contemporary art hub that draws on local and regional talent.

Head north to Norfolk and Suffolk for more magnificent seascapes and luxurious sleeping and cultural options. As you journey up the coast, Essex blurs into East Anglia where the empty beaches and indulgent accommodation of Norfolk and Suffolk await.

It’s well worth pausing at the Suffolk town of Southwold, with its cheerful, coloured beach huts that stretch away either side of the lighthouse and look, at a distance, like upright pieces of a Lego set. You can buy a dressed crab from some of the shacks here or take a short boat trip up the River Blyth where the skipper will regale you with tales of smuggling as you spot a seal venturing upriver.

Further up the coast you’ll find the sumptuous Holkham Hall, a Palladian-style country mansion house near Wells-next-the Sea on the north Norfolk coast. Oozing style and grace, this is one of the finest stately houses you could visit, with original furniture, tapestries and paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck and Gainsborough all laid out for discerning inspection. The serene grounds include a walled garden and trails that lead to the beach where the dunes are planted with Corsican and Scots pines.

If a stroll along the beach whets your appetite, the Victoria Inn, linked to the Holkham Hall estate offers fine dining within the informal atmosphere of a wonderful pub. 

Local ingredients are at the heart of the menu and include shellfish, fish or samphire from the north Norfolk coast, beef from the Holkham Estate. In summer, the fruit puddings draw on pears and apples from a local orchard.

A little further west and on the edge of the Queen’s Sandringham estate lies Congham Hall Hotel & Spa. This outstanding Georgian manor offers some sophisticated beds on which to rest your head: you can choose between traditionally decorated or more contemporary rooms. Dinner here is something of an indulgence and ranges from wild garlic and pea soup with cheese dumplings to seared bavette flavoured with seasonal pickings from the herb garden.

By Mark Rowe

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Explore more of the East Coast here