Escape to the Blackwater Estuary

On the edge of Essex is a land of mud flats, seabirds and inescapable history. At its heart is the town of Maldon, from where you can explore on foot or on water and savour a salty taste of life on the marshes

Big skies, open waters and bleak, sweeping vistas have a particular allure as the year begins to draw in. In autumn, when the summer crowds have departed, the Blackwater Estuary in Essex offers a sense of isolation quite miraculous for being only an hour’s drive from London. As the eel grass turns rusty and flowers of sea lavender bring a blush to the salt marsh, the colours of autumn are in evidence, despite the rarity of trees here.

It is still possible to sense this area’s warmongering, seafaring past. Stride out along the coastal paths or sail out into the Blackwater, and the modern world recedes within minutes. The famous Battle of Maldon was fought in 991AD near South House Farm. At the tip of the bleak and relentlessly flat Dengie peninsula, the estuary’s southern coast, is a remote Anglo-Saxon chapel. And well into the 20th century, the long creeks around Tollesbury concealed smugglers.

This wide estuary has countless islets colonised by seals and birds. A vast number of migrating visitors flock here in autumn to feed on the expanses of the mud flats, salt marsh and arable land. The massed honking of Brent geese drowns out conversation. At dusk the noise can be deafening, with the warble of the curlew the Blackwater’s signature tune. An internationally important area for wildlife, it is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds, and a marine Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

At the Blackwater’s heart is the thriving market town of Maldon, built on a steep hill at the mouth of the estuary. The Maldon waterfront, also known as the Hythe, is crammed with dozens of barges, boats and almost as many pubs. Along the estuary’s northern coast, the terrain swells and billows up to Colchester, Britain’s oldest town. Around Goldhanger, circular patches of red earth mark the sites of Iron Age and Roman salt works. Dutch and Flemish refugees built the sea wall around the Blackwater in the 16th century, reclaiming acres for agriculture. In summer, soft fruit grows here and this is sheep-grazing land, all the way to Mersea Island, linked to the mainland by a causeway.

Viking heritage
In August 991AD the town of Maldon was seriously threatened by a fleet of 93 Viking longships fresh from the sacking of Ipswich. Then known as Maeldun, meaning ‘hill marked by a monument’, the settlement had been fortified by the Saxons in 916AD to withstand Danish raiding parties, but had endured decades of humiliation at the hands of the foreigners, despite the defences. This time the Saxons stood up for themselves and refused to pay the Danegeld tax. A two-day battle ensued, recorded in the earliest known Saxon epic poem, The Battle of Maldon. The outcome was something of a fudge: the Saxons lost the battle, but kept the town.

Another venerable survivor of the Danish raiding parties is the tiny Saxon chapel of St Peter’s-on-the-Wall, which was built on the edge of the saltings by St Cedd, who later became Bishop of Essex, in the seventh century. For many years used as a barn, the chapel was restored in the 1920s. To reach this, one of the oldest remaining Christian churches in England – and among the most atmospheric – walk east from Bradwell-on-Sea and continue 400 metres down the old Roman road across the marshes. A pilgrimage is held on the first Saturday in July. For more information, call 01621 776203 or visit www.bradwellchapel.org. A short trip on Nigel Cardy’s boat Viking Saga (07836 715685) out from Maldon’s Promenade Park will also transport you back in time.

Sweet and savoury
The Blackwater area produces everything from organic jams to native oysters and gourmet salt. The world-famous Tiptree jam factory dominates the eponymous small town: you can smell it from miles away. There’s a chance to sample preserves made from quinces, medlars and mulberries at the on-site Tiptree tea room and pick up an organic Christmas pudding in a traditional muslin-covered basin while you’re there. Don’t miss the Jam Museum (01621 814524; www.tiptree.com): it even has the miniature jam jars Sir Edwin Lutyens made for Queen Mary’s 1923 doll’s house.

Essex estuary water is among the saltiest in Britain, and Maldon is home to Britain’s only surviving seawater salt works. Unfortunately, the steaming vats at the family-owned Maldon Crystal Salt Company (01621 853315; www.maldonsalt.co.uk) are not open to the public, but Friars Pottery (01621 840798) in the High Street sells the famous salt, as well as a selection of traditional salt spoons, scoops and salt pigs.
The Essex coast from Colchester southwards is famed for its oysters. The Company Shed (see ‘Where to eat’) on the West Mersea shore uses centuries-old techniques to farm Pacific oysters, in season all year round. Native oysters are harvested from September to April.

Visit Buntings (0162 185 3271) at 89 Maldon High Street for pies to bake in your own oven and pick up your veg from Sally Green’s (01621 854727), a spectacular traditional greengrocers. A farmers’ market is held at the Swan Hotel on the first Tuesday of the month (01621 875853; www.maldon.gov.uk).

On the water
Maldon boasts more working Thames barges than anywhere else in Britain. These extraordinary flat-bottomed boats with their distinctive ochre-red sails were once a common sight along the east coast. They need only three feet of water to sail and were designed to make their way up shallow creeks to collect loads of hay and mud to take ‘up Swin’ (up-river in local vernacular) to the ‘London River’. Maldon depended heavily on the barges and when the river froze in 1776, two-thirds of the town found itself out of work. The Heritage Centre (01621 85 7567) aboard the sailing barge Glenway has some fantastic photographs of barges laden with haystacks. Visit the Hythe for a Thames barge trip on the last wooden sailing barge to be built, Andrea Greig’s 1928 vessel, Cabby. Topsail Charters offers bird-watching trips to Northey Island with the Essex Wildlife Trust. And if you’re lucky you may meet the Knot Man, who will demonstrate the sailor’s art over a pint or two (or ask at the Tourist Information Centre).

Down a narrow road north-east of Maldon, pleasure craft ranging from dinghies to substantial yachts congregate at Heybridge Basin, at the end of the Chelmer and Blackwater Canal, which runs 11 miles through 12 locks inland to Chelmsford. Call 01245 225520 or visit www.papermilllock.co.uk for information about boat trips. The distinctive tall, white-boarded boathouses at Tollesbury marina date back to 1902, when they housed a fleet of more than 100 sailing smacks. For the hardy, Maldon Rowing Race takes place in December.

Islands
Numerous islands add to the area’s sense of mystery. Northey Island was the base camp for the Viking invaders. Today it is a nature reserve and you can visit by arrangement with the resident warden (01621 853142). A Roman causeway visible only at low tide takes residents out to the privately owned Osea Island. A member of the Charrington brewing family retreated into temperance here, although fishermen are reputed to have supplied islanders with bottles tied to buoys in Goldhanger creek.

Ray Island is a large sandy mound rising out of the saltings to the west of the Strood – the causeway that carries the main road from Colchester across to Mersea Island. It is owned by the National Trust and managed by Essex Wildlife Trust. A mile-long pathway starts at the north end of the Strood and runs across Bonner’s Saltings to Ray Island. (Do not attempt to cross in the two hours before high water.)

Wildlife
The change of seasons is heralded here by the arrival of Brent geese from Siberia to fatten up over winter. Now, too, waders – teal, widgeon, redshank, dunlin and curlew – claim the mud flats, while rare egrets, ospreys and cormorants are drawn to the area’s huge reserves. These cover all sorts of habitats, from the remote Old Hall Marshes RSPB reserve near Tollesbury, where you will need a visitors permit (call 0162 186 9015 or apply in writing to 1 Old Hall Lane, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Maldon CM9 8TP), to the waterbird sanctuary at Abberton Reservoir (01206 738172; www.essexwt.org.uk), home to more than 400 nesting cormorants. The tea rooms at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve (01206 729678) have the finest view over Geedon Saltings, while Europe’s largest coastal realignment project has just opened to the public at Abbotts Hall Farm (01621 862960).

If it’s raining…
Take shelter in Maldon’s Hayletts Gallery (0162 185 1669) to admire the cream of the east coast’s local artists. The Maeldune Heritage Centre (01621 851628) in St Peter’s Tower houses a tapestry commemorating the Battle of Maldon. And there’s a cosy upstairs room in second-hand bookshop All Books (01621 856214; www.allbooks.demon.co.uk). But best of all is the 12th-century Grange Barn at Coggeshall (01376 562226), one of the oldest surviving timber-framed barns in Europe.
 
Places to stay
● The Tea House, Layer Marney Tower (01206 330784; www.layermarneytower.co.uk). A snug, well-appointed holiday home for four. No dogs, open all year. £260-560 a week.
Avonmore, St Lawrence Bay (01787 280063). A modern house with frontage to beach and spectacular views. Sleeps eight to nine, with space for two cots. No dogs. £350-570 a week.
● Wick Manor Farm, Tolleshunt Major (01621 860629). A 17th-century moated farmhouse B&B in a large garden on a working farm. Dogs allowed. Twin £50, single £25.
● Prested Hall, Feering (01376 573399; www.prested.com). This rambling Tudor/Art Deco moated hall in 75 acres of grounds offers luxurious B&B accommodation. Pool, gym, real and lawn tennis, and holistic therapy centre in a former chapel. Twin £85, single £55.
Out of season, the sailing barge Reminder (01621 857567; www.topsail.co.uk), moored at Hythe Quay, offers self-catering holidays for up to 14. Dogs allowed. From £480 per week.
The remote B&B at Mersea Island Vineyard (01206 38 5900) has fantastic views. £60.

Places to eat
● The Whalebone, Fingringhoe (01206 729307). Laid-back village pub with open fires and great views from a glorious garden. Pork schnitzel with farmhouse cabbage and Malmsey sauce, £9.35, is among the specialities here. It’s best to book.
● The Peldon Rose, Peldon (01206 735248; www.thepeldonrose.co.uk). Wine merchant Lay and Wheeler’s posh fish restaurant in a low-beamed pub that is also a B&B. Try griddled wing of skate.
● The Company Shed, West Mersea (01206 382700). Wrap up warm at this basic yet renowned café attached to a traditional oyster farm and fishmonger’s that lands its catch just 200 metres away. Bring your own bread and wine to accompany the café’s seasonal seafood platters, which can include crab, shrimp and samphire.
● The Lock Tea Rooms, Basin Road, Heybridge Basin, Maldon (01621 854466). This sunny former ships’ chandlers building right on the sea wall serves breakfast, lunch and cream teas with the locally produced Tiptree jams. Free parking in Daisy Meadow.

Escape essentials
● Map reference OS 168
● Tourist information Maldon Tourist Information Centre (01621 856503; tic@maldon.gov.uk). The Maldon Society (01621 857050). See also: www.hidden-treasures.co.uk; www.realessex.co.uk; www.thisisessex.co.uk for news and events; www.tastesofanglia.com; www.eat-the-view.org.uk; www.essexcc.gov.uk; www.essexwt.org.uk.

Getting there

Trains run from London Liverpool Street station to Chelmsford and Witham. Take the A12, then the A414 or the B1019. Traveline (0870 608 2608).

Photo: Visit Britain
 

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