Basic HTML Version
31
Beth Chatto
and the
Ha’Penny Pier
This day trip is a real tonic.
We visit the beautiful estuary
of the Stour, where Essex
meets Suffolk, journeying from
England’s smallest town to the
sea by the Ha’Penny Pier in
Old Harwich. In the afternoon
we enjoy wonderful views on
a scenic drive en route to the
Beth Chatto Gardens.
Available March to the end
of October every day except
Sundays.
Adults & Seniors: £18.95
Coach Mileage: 40
going to visit her own garden – grown from
the unpromising acres of swampland of her
husband’s fruit farm. Here she pioneered the
underlying principles of what is now referred
to as “ecological gardening” – cutting her
cloth according to her measure.
The now famous gravel garden, cleverly
planted to resemble a dried up river bed,
is filled with drought-resisting plants and
hasn’t been artificially watered for more
than 20 years. Just a short distance away the
atmosphere changes totally with lush, leafy
plants around four spring-fed ponds beneath
a backdrop of ancient oaks and ornamental
trees. There is a nursery on site for the green
fingered and a tea house to round off a great
day out. We’ll aim to have you on the coach
heading home at 4.45pm.
hanging or burning the forebears of some of
today’s townsfolk. By coach we follow the
Stour to where it meets the Orwell and flows
into the sea.
The street pattern in the historic gem
that is Old Harwich is mediaeval and the
atmosphere seafaring. On a short and
enjoyable stroll we see some fine captains’
houses and a unique treadmill crane. We’ll
hear of the diarist Samuel Pepys, Captain
Christopher Jones of the Mayflower and
Lighthouse Lil, a lady of questionable
virtue! Whenever possible we’ll arrange to
look inside the Electric Palace Cinema one
of the world’s first purpose-built cinemas.
Old Harwich is a really enjoyable place to
explore and have lunch. Crab sandwiches on
the pier anyone? After lunch we drive inland
from Hamford
Water and the Naze
enjoying some
fantastic views.
Beth Chatto, the
winner of ten
consecutive gold
medals at the
Chelsea Flower
Show is said to
be today’s Gertrude
Jekyll. We are
Our day begins in
Manningtree to buy
morning coffee at
10.30am. This
charming little
port is officially
England’s smallest
town – just 22
acres at low tide.
Matthew Hopkins
began his career as
Witchfinder General
here, drowning,
The Forgotten
Essex Explorer
Arrive at midday for a
chicken lunch with seasonable
vegetables (or a veggie option)
included in the tour fee; enjoy
an entertaining coach tour of
a remote and lonely kingdom
bounded by water on three
sides with a top-notch tour
guide and stop for tea in a
jolly yachting town on the
River Crouch.
Available weekdays all year.
Adults & Seniors: £19.95
Coach Mileage: 35
Meet the guide
on the A12 near
Chelmsford
towards Danbury
to start the day
at midday for a
chicken lunch
with seasonal
vegetables
served with
tea and coffee.
This is a very
attractive tucked
away pub, the
sort of place it’s
a joy to discover.
We are going to take you on a panoramic
tour of hauntingly beautiful landscapes
beneath massive skies, a beguiling mix of
thatched and weather-boarded villages dotted
across moody end-of-the-earth saltmarshes.
The Denge Hundred is to Essex what the
Romney Marsh is to Kent.
In the middle of nowhere we step down from
the coach to follow a flat grassy path to
St Peter-on-the-Wall, also known as
St Cedd’s, which stands alone at the tip of
the peninsula with panoramic views across
the Rivers Crouch and Blackwater and the
North Sea. It’s a ten-minute walk at most
each way on the flat, just what the doctor
around you. This is probably the oldest
surviving church in England built 1400 years
ago by a Northumbrian missionary. Inside
it is very simply furnished and decorated and
it feels very special.
On to Burnham-on-Crouch - the ‘Cowes of
the East Coast’. Enjoy a trail along the High
Street to see the unusual octagonal clock
tower, splendid Georgian houses and the art
deco yacht club and then strike anchor to buy
tea on the quayside where captains’ houses
and clapboard cottages look out over a forest
of bobbing masts. You can enjoy over an
hour here and still be ready to head home
shortly after 4.45pm.
ordered for light
exercise. The
path is an old
Roman road
that drains well
and doesn’t get
muddy. Look
out over the salt
marshes and
the Bradwell
Cockle Spit
and watch the
oystercatchers,
peewits and
terns wheeling
above and
info@cityandvillagetours.com