Landscape locations in Essex

existent

existent

Messages
1,417
Name
Esen
Edit My Images
Yes
I have just been relocated to Essex - somewhere around Basildon.

Can anyone recommend some locations in the area for landscape togging? Specifically if any of the coastal areas are worthwhile for seascapes?
 
Welcome to Essex :LOL:

Essex if not the best place for landscape togging really. The best countryside is in the north / north east of the county where it borders Suffolk. There isn't much true coastline, more a multitude of rivers. Much of the sea cost in inaccessible and what is is mainly old seaside resorts e.g. Southend, Clacton or Walton. The Stour and Blackwater are the better rivers. A good river location is Mersea Island.

If you want urban coastal (albeit river) then anywhere along the thames estuary.
 
existent said:
I have just been relocated to Essex - somewhere around Basildon.
Click to expand...

My commiserations, I can only assume you've deeply offended someone :D

I'm currently working between Basildon and Southend, the countryside isn't particularly thrilling, but there are plenty of big fields full of hay bales just about everywhere you look, which is an option?

Coastal-wise Southend-on-sea is probably your best bet, not too far away at all either! There's a pier and everything too :D
 
Industrial and marsh landscapes at Canvey island,Thurrock, Tilbury.
Foulness island for saltwater marsh, mud flats etc.
Heybridge for estuary, st peters on the wall at Bradwell-On-Sea for mud flats and sea/estuary, Danbury and Galleywood for common's, Epping forest for woodland, Mersea island as said, St Osyth nudist beach is one of the best beaches, drive to beach, drive on and turn right, manningtree/dedham = constable country.
Thaxted/Saffron walden for tudor buildings, windmills etc. Thaxted festival every year is a great day out for photographers.

It's a shame really that your down in the arse end of Essex, but there's plenty to be found if you wander off the beaten track ie main roads.
 
welcome to Essex :wave:

The best places I would say are:
Mersea Island - which does get cut off from mainland at certain times of the day, good spot for windsurfing etc pics
Colchester, Highwoods Country Park
Epping Forest - woodland mainly
Southend/Clacton on Sea

If you come up to the north east area of Essex, gimme a buzz, and if I'm off, I'll come with you (y)
 
Thanks for the warm welcomes.

Looks like lots of places to get me started at least. I don't mind driving up north to spend a weekend if there are better coasts up there.

Best shots i could find on flickr were from walton-on-the-naize and st osyth.

I did see some nice misty fields with an odd tree right in the middle this morning while driving to work.

So i guess its not too bad. Plus i am much closer to london :)
 
Welcome to Essex :p I've found Mersea Island to be a pretty good location. Here's a couple of my shots from Mersea.

4402802408_2a8a335bdb_z.jpg


4411333551_fc936c63c8_z.jpg


4402037223_45a0e20225_z.jpg


4402739764_37676ac338_z.jpg


Dedham is also quite a nice place.

4461330784_48654e8db0_z.jpg


Driving around very early in the morning is also great, though this applies to pretty much everywhere.
 
George7 said:
Welcome to Essex :p I've found Mersea Island to be a pretty good location. Here's a couple of my shots from Mersea.

4402802408_2a8a335bdb_z.jpg


4411333551_fc936c63c8_z.jpg


4402037223_45a0e20225_z.jpg
Click to expand...

ahhhhhh west mersea when the tide is out
 
You have my sympathy, it's flat bland and generally very boring.
About the best places to shoot I have found is around the backwater creeks and yes mersea has some decent ish areas
 
Audley End House and Gardens near Saffron Walden is a lovely place to go.
 
There is Paper Mill Lock in Little Baddow, Hylands House and Park, South Weald Counrty Park, Danury Counrty Park. Ian has already mentioned some nice places there are also some down hill mountain bike trails at Danbury Common.
 
Tringa said:
Have a look at http://www.geograph.org.uk/

It is very useful if you want to know what nearly anywhere in the country looks like.

Dave
Click to expand...

I was very confused what it was showing until I zoomed in all the way... Looks very useful to see what anywhere looks like as you said (y)

PsiFox said:
Audley End House and Gardens near Saffron Walden is a lovely place to go.
Click to expand...

not a big garden fan to be honest :D
 
Hadleigh Castle, there have been a few threads on TP over the years.

There is one point in Langdon Hills where you can see all the way from the QE2 bridge in the east to the west of London. From the top of the hill it is flat all the way into London.

I have had some half decent sunsets around Southend and yes there is mud in them :LOL:

There are a few decent forts around, Tilbury, Coal House ( East Tilbury) and one or two in the Harwich area. Only trouble with the 2 at Tilbury is keeping the modern industrial sites out of any pictures. Coal house is probably less effected by this.

And this tutorial from Hacker might come in handy.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=71111&highlight="speak+essex"
 
Last edited:
You're in my home town (Wickford) ! Welcome..

As I recall from your posts on AVF, you were on the Somerset coast, correct ? As said, the coastline here is not quite the same !

All good comments and suggestions above. Also, Dovercourt is good for the two lighthouses.

Thaxted has a nice windmill. (Bit of a drive from Wickford though)

Bradwell has some interesting sea defences which are good for long exposures, as does Frinton along by the golf course.

Looking forward to seeing what you find, and let me know if you need any Wickford knowledge !
 
existent said:
Nice pictures George (y)

So is it all mud on the cost around here then?
Click to expand...

The Blackwater estuary and other estuaries are mud, yes. But there is plenty of sand on the beaches of Frinton, Holland-on-Sea, etc (y)
 
Also, you are only 40 minutes from London on the train as well, so you have the whole city to explore .

If you don't mind a drive, then Southwold and the surrounding areas in Suffolk are about an hour and a bit away - lots of stuff there.
 
Welcome to Wickford from another inmate! (y)

There are some nice spots along the Chelmer & Blackwater Canal between Maldon and Chelmsford and there is also Two Tree Island near Leigh-on-Sea.

Neil
 
Hi Welcome to essex (poor sod)

I would say your best option for costal toggs would be mersey and lea on sea, just my personal opinion of course.

Brentwood and Stanford also have some good views for landscape pics

good luck
 
Wow.. so many locations.. Thanks a lot guys! It's not all that bad after all I guess.. It's been nice misty mornings last 2 days driving to work so I might get up an hour early tomorrow for the sunrise to try out some of the fields (y)

leaky5 said:
Hadleigh Castle, there have been a few threads on TP over the years.

There is one point in Langdon Hills where you can see all the way from the QE2 bridge in the east to the west of London. From the top of the hill it is flat all the way into London.

....
And this tutorial from Hacker might come in handy.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=71111&highlight="speak+essex"
Click to expand...

I like the sound of Langdon Hills...I am probably a bit too optimistic about the visibility but still worth a visit at least once...

Hadleigh castle looks nice as well.. I like old buildings/ruins usually.

I don't think I'll ever understand the language in that guide :D

GaryS70 said:
You're in my home town (Wickford) ! Welcome..

As I recall from your posts on AVF, you were on the Somerset coast, correct ? As said, the coastline here is not quite the same !

All good comments and suggestions above. Also, Dovercourt is good for the two lighthouses.

Thaxted has a nice windmill. (Bit of a drive from Wickford though)

Bradwell has some interesting sea defences which are good for long exposures, as does Frinton along by the golf course.

Looking forward to seeing what you find, and let me know if you need any Wickford knowledge !
Click to expand...

Yup somerset (y)

I work at Bradwell Power Station now, so should be easy to look around before/after work hopefully. The windmill at Thaxted looks nice as well but as you said it's a bit of a drive... but that's what the weekends are for (y)

GaryS70 said:
Also, you are only 40 minutes from London on the train as well, so you have the whole city to explore .

If you don't mind a drive, then Southwold and the surrounding areas in Suffolk are about an hour and a bit away - lots of stuff there.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely be visiting london often... I like doing night landscape around central london... also camden down type market areas...

Driving north is possibility but I'll probably save it for winter when the sunrise is very late :D

Janice said:
The Blackwater estuary and other estuaries are mud, yes. But there is plenty of sand on the beaches of Frinton, Holland-on-Sea, etc (y)
Click to expand...

the closest beach areas seem to be around Holland-on-Sea and up north from there - Frinton, Walton-on-the-naize, Dovecourt....

Dogtanian said:
Welcome to Wickford from another inmate! (y)

There are some nice spots along the Chelmer & Blackwater Canal between Maldon and Chelmsford and there is also Two Tree Island near Leigh-on-Sea.

Neil
Click to expand...

(y) any specific points along the canals? or the general route along the canals?
 
Hi mate, welcome to sunny essex, I'm just outside basildon, and work in Pitsea, it's a bit of a hole really and you have to travel north to find anything decent.

Here's my flickr stream were you can see some pics of Burnham-on-Crouch and Coal House fort: http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinbarnes79/

I'm going out to Leigh-on-Sea tomorrow night, as mentioned there are some nice shots to be had there, and interesting textures.

Most of the coast is mudflats unfortunately, but you can still get some nice sunset/sunrise shots, unless shooting specifically for B&W I wouldn't really bother during the day as it's pretty uninspiring.

Hadliegh is ok, there's really no much there though, just a tiny ruin, I've been a number of times trying to find an interesting angle but at the end of the day, it's just not that interesting in my humble opinion, but it's easy to get to, and only a few mins drive away from Leigh-On-Sea, so if you were curious, you could fire of a few shots while on the way to the seaside. Also, if you follow the A13, you'll go through Leigh-on-Sea into Westcliff, and then onto Eastenders Characters favourite holiday Southend on Sea with the worlds longest pier :)

We do have a massive oil refinery in Coryton near Corringham, at night that can be a nice shot, but you get chased away by the over-zealous security guards.

I've been to Thaxted, it's bit cliched and not really that interesting.

Walton/Frinton/Mersea offer the most interesting coastal images, but I would personally go further into Suffolk where it gets more beachy and less muddy.

It seems we have quite an Essex contingency here on TP - maybe should arrange or a get-together at some point, it would be cool to meet up with some more togs, I usually go about on my own so would be nice to have a bit of company so I don't have to keep dragging along the mrs'
 
Last edited:
If you work at bradwell powerstation you probably know my brother, Andrew Candler, look him up, he's a tog as well.

You also have waymarks beach right behind the powerstation, st peters on the wall further up and the marina area/estuary with boats coming and going.

If you go to st lawrence bay and hang a left when you hit the beach you can walk up and get osea island in a shot.

The Essex coast is really at its best in the winter when you can really exploit its desolate and remote look, though a biting easterly can make it challenging.

Frinton sea wall when there's an easterly gale blowing is also good, especially around high tide as it can produce some big waves crashing onto the sea wall.
 
ColinB said:
It seems we have quite an Essex contingency here on TP - maybe should arrange or a get-together at some point, it would be cool to meet up with some more togs, I usually go about on my own so would be nice to have a bit of company so I don't have to keep dragging along the mrs'
Click to expand...

I agree on this... a meeting would be nice in the area (y)

Zetec said:
Here are a few links I have just found for you for for the Chelmer and Blackwater canal I hope they help a bit.

http://www.barging.co.uk/Chelmer/Chelmermap.htm
http://www.papermilllock.co.uk/gallery.htm
http://www.dengie.org.uk/maritime.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks mate.. I'll check them out sometime..

iancandler said:
If you work at bradwell powerstation you probably know my brother, Andrew Candler, look him up, he's a tog as well.

You also have waymarks beach right behind the powerstation, st peters on the wall further up and the marina area/estuary with boats coming and going.

If you go to st lawrence bay and hang a left when you hit the beach you can walk up and get osea island in a shot.

The Essex coast is really at its best in the winter when you can really exploit its desolate and remote look, though a biting easterly can make it challenging.

Frinton sea wall when there's an easterly gale blowing is also good, especially around high tide as it can produce some big waves crashing onto the sea wall.
Click to expand...

I just started there yesterday so only know few people but I'll send him an email tomorrow at work... (y)

If I don't feel too lazy tomorrow morning I think I might try Dengie marshland on the way to work...
 
Be mindful of the residents of the Dengie. You've seen Deliverance?
 
"I come from Essex" :help:
"I don't blame you!" (y)
 
some places remind me of The Descent
 
mr_pants said:
Make it early next month and I'm there. Off on hol second half of the month.
Click to expand...

Either of the first 2 weekends are OK with me. Have you got a location in mind as I don't I know a few places to go. But are woodland or near rivers.
 
short notice, but there's a cycling event in Colchester on 17th Sept if anyone's interested? (thread created in 'Meeting Place')
 
Zetec said:
Either of the first 2 weekends are OK with me. Have you got a location in mind as I don't I know a few places to go. But are woodland or near rivers.
Click to expand...

No location in mind as yet. How about we hold a GTG on the 3rd October? We could start a thread about it in the Meeting Place section.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top