About

Halstead is a traditional market town with the River Colne running through the heart of it. A beautiful river walk runs alongside the river. The town is home to numerous independent boutique shops, family butchers & bakers, cafés, restaurants; a wealth of floral attractions, buildings built by the Courtauld’s family and two beautiful Churches.

Halstead in Bloom was formed in 2000 and from 2009 have been GOLD award Winners every year since, also named as Best Town in Anglia in Bloom, on 5 occasions by RHS Britain in Bloom. As soon as you enter the town you are welcomed by floral displays. Summer & Winter flowers adorn the town in tubs, troughs, boxes, beds, agricultural machinery and summer baskets.
The beautiful Public Gardens are Victorian in style and formally laid out, with a central Bandstand that is used for lovely Sunday Summer Afternoon music events and special evening events.

Wool and weaving provided the mainstay of business over the centuries and the surviving Townsford Mill, straddles the River Colne. Local history has it that the black silk for Queen Victoria's many mourning gowns were made at the Mill. The mill is a picturesque reminder of the towns' industrial past and now holds one of the largest Antiques Centres on the Essex/Suffolk border. The Courtauld family built the towns hospital, library, park, homes for workers and a rare group of sixteen WWII air raid shelters that were built for the workers.

There has been a Church on the site of St Andrew’s since the reign of King John. Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott built Holy Trinity Church in the 1840s and is a landmark in the town.

The Empire Theatre is a 300 seater venue showing films and staging tribute bands, retro acts, country, jazz and pantomime.

Summer & Christmas Fayre’s are held in the town with a Torchlight Procession and carols a highlight of the year.

There is plenty of coach parking as well as car parking.