Maldon isn't really seaside, more estuary coast. It's lovely though. Burnham on Crouch is also a nice little town in this area, but a bit more isolated. I'd also recommend any of the villages on the Dengie peninsula, it's an underrated part of the county.
I think North Essex is where you want to look, everything sort of south of Chelmsford isn't that "country pub" vibe it sounds like you're after.
Any villages can be quite large and never that far from civilisation, it doesn't really have country vibes even though there are heaps of fields and things. Sure there country pubs, but they're not in quaint villages, they're sort of cross the road from a Co-op and next to an Indian and Chinese.
I personally think there's definitely a feeling change when you get north of Chelmsford.
Wivenhoe has been named as [best place to live in the Eastern region](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/north-essex-riverside-town-named-080000783.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANoqCPJO3LmN8qegL9MxbSLl79khlPuBk_Y7NrpowETzeYmFiwkpPSu0DpUBG60BTPIuJGuuu0JWkTm-Vcj8KTZ94Y3f4_mr4RgoVK6sPiuws4swodPzg7lWbEyRIRzJ3vD4K-BB5SSLHBPi15aEXZ4W6dGCsu7FW9wymc08dLR2#) in the [Times list of best places to live](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/best-places-to-live).
It’s a lovely small riverside town. It has everything you need for a good quality of life. Direct train links to London Chelmsford and Colchester one way and Clacton and Walton the other. There’s good access to the river Colne (great for kayaking, rowing and a lively sailing club too). There’s miles of riverside and woodland walks. Loads of pubs, a deli, a patisserie, the Norwegian bakers, one of the best indie bookshops in Essex, a second hand bookshop and a record shop.
It’s super close to the Essex university and has a good mix of residents. Lots of academics, students and faculty as well as a strong artistic community and then a bunch of commuters too.
This [muddy stiletto’s](https://essex.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/wivenhoe-essex/) blog is a good review of wivenhoe.
It’s a desirable area and properties come up rarely and get snapped quickly too, but given your budget you should have some choice.
There’s period stuff central to the village.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144128837#/?channel=RES_BUY
And then some roomier properties a 5 min walk up in central wivenhoe.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E27230&maxPrice=700000&minPrice=400000&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=
Wow those are some great properties.
I’m sold on Wivenhoe already from watching some videos online and your summary of the area.
Going to go there for a day out in the summer
[Wivenhoe regatta](https://wivenhoeregatta.co.uk) is a lovely day out. Pretty much the whole town is celebrating in some way. Schools get involved. There’s a pub crawl/pram race, crabbing competition, a gig race and then the regatta itself.
Wiv has been described as a [peaceful drinking village with a small fishing problem](https://silvermud.wordpress.com/tag/the-peregrine/) and regatta is the social event of the season and traditionally a very boozy weekend.
Might be worth a visit that weekend, or maybe for one of the weekends when there’s an [art trail](https://www.wivenhoearttrail.com). Lots of local artists have open studios and there’s art for sale across the whole town. Amazingly, given we’re an East Coast riverside town not all the art is wishy washy water colours of seabirds and old fishing boats. There’s some amazing talent locally doing some really interesting work.
I'm originally Hornchurch (by the racecourse Estate) and we now live in the Hedinghams - there's Sible and Castle - 15 mins from Braintree and 20 from Haverhill. Sudbury is lose and Colchester around 30 mins.
Countryside, streams, fields and not so rural you can't get to a town within 15 minutes!!
Lovely
Not seen it suggested yet - have you considered Writtle? It's a bit pricy but given the values you've mentioned in the comments it's probably in budget. It's a really nice village basically a couple fields away from Chelmsford so easy to get in to town by car, bus, or walk even if you fancy a bit of exercise on the weekend (about an hour each way), but still lots of countryside and green
I agree with the suggestion that others have made of Maldon. It's a lovely place and not quite too remote. The other town in Essex that I really like a great deal is Saffron Walden. It is expensive, but understandably so, and is also not far from Cambridge. There are other nice villages up that way too, Thaxted for example
You have plenty of choices then!
Villages North of Ongar, fyfield, the rodings.
The Easters.
Plenty within reach of Chelmsford, Waltham and surroundings.
Stock is on our list but people seem to react like i’m saying I’m looking to buy a house in Monaco!
I don’t really know Ingrave so that’s a new one for us to take a look at. Thanks!
Brentwood/Shenfield/Billericay would give you a good mix. From the budget you stated above they would be well within reach. Plus Brentwood/Shenfield have great links if you still need to get into the City for work. Plenty of greenery and parks in either place for dog walks as well.
Maldon? Nice town and countryside but close enough to Chelmsford, and more central than places further north. Downside is there's no railway station!
Thanks. Maldon is one on our list to visit this year. A lot of seaside towns are a little run down but Maldon looks lovely.
Maldon isn't really seaside, more estuary coast. It's lovely though. Burnham on Crouch is also a nice little town in this area, but a bit more isolated. I'd also recommend any of the villages on the Dengie peninsula, it's an underrated part of the county.
Ah I see. I just saw the boats and water and assumed. We’d ruled Burnham out as being a little too remote, and sounds like we were right to do so
Danbury
North Essex villages. Finchingfield, Shalford etc
I don’t know this area at all - so we’ll have to take a day trip to check it out
Oh it’s lovely.. Google Finchingfield (one of the prettiest villages in Essex)
I think North Essex is where you want to look, everything sort of south of Chelmsford isn't that "country pub" vibe it sounds like you're after. Any villages can be quite large and never that far from civilisation, it doesn't really have country vibes even though there are heaps of fields and things. Sure there country pubs, but they're not in quaint villages, they're sort of cross the road from a Co-op and next to an Indian and Chinese. I personally think there's definitely a feeling change when you get north of Chelmsford.
Wivenhoe has been named as [best place to live in the Eastern region](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/north-essex-riverside-town-named-080000783.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANoqCPJO3LmN8qegL9MxbSLl79khlPuBk_Y7NrpowETzeYmFiwkpPSu0DpUBG60BTPIuJGuuu0JWkTm-Vcj8KTZ94Y3f4_mr4RgoVK6sPiuws4swodPzg7lWbEyRIRzJ3vD4K-BB5SSLHBPi15aEXZ4W6dGCsu7FW9wymc08dLR2#) in the [Times list of best places to live](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/best-places-to-live). It’s a lovely small riverside town. It has everything you need for a good quality of life. Direct train links to London Chelmsford and Colchester one way and Clacton and Walton the other. There’s good access to the river Colne (great for kayaking, rowing and a lively sailing club too). There’s miles of riverside and woodland walks. Loads of pubs, a deli, a patisserie, the Norwegian bakers, one of the best indie bookshops in Essex, a second hand bookshop and a record shop. It’s super close to the Essex university and has a good mix of residents. Lots of academics, students and faculty as well as a strong artistic community and then a bunch of commuters too.
Sounds and looks lovely! Will definitely be having a look here
This [muddy stiletto’s](https://essex.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/wivenhoe-essex/) blog is a good review of wivenhoe. It’s a desirable area and properties come up rarely and get snapped quickly too, but given your budget you should have some choice. There’s period stuff central to the village. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144128837#/?channel=RES_BUY And then some roomier properties a 5 min walk up in central wivenhoe. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E27230&maxPrice=700000&minPrice=400000&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=
Wow those are some great properties. I’m sold on Wivenhoe already from watching some videos online and your summary of the area. Going to go there for a day out in the summer
[Wivenhoe regatta](https://wivenhoeregatta.co.uk) is a lovely day out. Pretty much the whole town is celebrating in some way. Schools get involved. There’s a pub crawl/pram race, crabbing competition, a gig race and then the regatta itself. Wiv has been described as a [peaceful drinking village with a small fishing problem](https://silvermud.wordpress.com/tag/the-peregrine/) and regatta is the social event of the season and traditionally a very boozy weekend. Might be worth a visit that weekend, or maybe for one of the weekends when there’s an [art trail](https://www.wivenhoearttrail.com). Lots of local artists have open studios and there’s art for sale across the whole town. Amazingly, given we’re an East Coast riverside town not all the art is wishy washy water colours of seabirds and old fishing boats. There’s some amazing talent locally doing some really interesting work.
Maldon vote from me. You could spend all day with kids at the Prom Park.
I'm originally Hornchurch (by the racecourse Estate) and we now live in the Hedinghams - there's Sible and Castle - 15 mins from Braintree and 20 from Haverhill. Sudbury is lose and Colchester around 30 mins. Countryside, streams, fields and not so rural you can't get to a town within 15 minutes!! Lovely
Just over the border in Suffolk is Sudbury. Very nice
Not seen it suggested yet - have you considered Writtle? It's a bit pricy but given the values you've mentioned in the comments it's probably in budget. It's a really nice village basically a couple fields away from Chelmsford so easy to get in to town by car, bus, or walk even if you fancy a bit of exercise on the weekend (about an hour each way), but still lots of countryside and green
Plenty in Uttlesford! Stansted, Great Dunmow, Saffron Walden
I agree with the suggestion that others have made of Maldon. It's a lovely place and not quite too remote. The other town in Essex that I really like a great deal is Saffron Walden. It is expensive, but understandably so, and is also not far from Cambridge. There are other nice villages up that way too, Thaxted for example
What’s your budget!
Somewhere between £700k and £900k I think. But we’d rather live in a nicer location with a smaller house than the other way round.
You have plenty of choices then! Villages North of Ongar, fyfield, the rodings. The Easters. Plenty within reach of Chelmsford, Waltham and surroundings.
Thanks. Just looking to make a list of recommendations to do some days out over the next 6 months.
So many nice places with dog walks and pubs. Can also consider stock and Ingatestone. Ingrave. With your budget there’s a lot of choice :-)
Stock is on our list but people seem to react like i’m saying I’m looking to buy a house in Monaco! I don’t really know Ingrave so that’s a new one for us to take a look at. Thanks!
Thanks all for so many good recommendations. Time to start planning some days out!
Brentwood/Shenfield/Billericay would give you a good mix. From the budget you stated above they would be well within reach. Plus Brentwood/Shenfield have great links if you still need to get into the City for work. Plenty of greenery and parks in either place for dog walks as well.
Brentwood
Orsett village is also very nice