Lady’s Country Walk in Essex

When I first moved to London, one of the things that intrigued me most about the UK was the country walks. Large areas of Britain offer miles of walking paths, some of which take multiple days to cover. They cut through public property and private, farmland and country lanes, and they make popular day trips from London. Yesterday I experienced one such ramble on a country walk in Essex.

Country Walk in Essex

A friend of a friend is part of a walking group at work, and every weekend they travel to a different part of England to explore the countryside.

My friend invited me to join them on a country walk in Essex, about an hour’s train ride from London.

I had very little experience with Essex (or Rochford, our final destination) before hopping on the train from Liverpool Street station.

In the days leading up to the walk, a few friends made fun of the location, what with Essex having gained notoriety from the TV show The Only Way Is Essex (Americans, read: the British Jersey Shore).

But what I met with when we arrived was far from too-fake tans and bad tattoos. In fact, it was far from people at all.

The country walk in Essex took us along incredibly varied terrain, from narrow paths under leafy canopies to overgrown trails along wheat fields and raised mounds separating the River Roach from the farmland next door.

It took us past country churches and over golf courses, alongside horse pastures overgrown with yellow wildflowers, and next to pretty country houses and little cottages with big rose gardens out front.

In the middle of it all, it took us to a country pub in a pretty village called Paglesham. It was everything my inner American loves about historic pubs, with its low ceilings and dark wood.

It even had a sign warning patrons that the floors might be uneven due to its being over 500 years old.

I couldn’t resist a Sunday roast for lunch, and sat outside at a sunny picnic table enjoying my beef, Yorkshire pudding, and potatoes while resting my legs for the journey back to Rochford.

Our country walk in Essex continued on a slightly different path. It passed by barns and tractors and took us over fallow fields. Eventually we arrived back at the Rochford train station ready to travel home to London.

Essex Country Walk

After 13 miles (21 kilometers), we were all grateful for a place to sit and I was happy to have had my country walk near London.

Now that I know how easy it is to go for a ramble for a day, I look forward to taking more Essex walks in the future. If I can get my legs to work again, that is.

If you want to do follow in my footsteps, there are lots of maps online that cover the same or similar circular walking routes to the one I did from Rochford station. You can easily replicate this country walk in Essex with them.

You can also read about more walks and find further details in Time Out Country Walks: 52 Walks Near London. You can get it here. Happy walking!

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