111 Places in Essex That You Shouldn't Miss

From the west, Essex is London overspill, sedate suburbia, docks and cranes, over the River Lea heading to the flat lands washed by the Thames, encroached by innumerable creeks and waterways. From the east, it's postcard-pretty countryside, dotted with watermills and windmills, idyllic landscapes, ancient churches and stately homes, with a rich history of religious dissent, utopian visions and red raw radicalism. In other words, the essence of England.