Itinerary Planner

Products in this Suggested Itinerary

Take it Easy by Car

Take it Easy by Car  - Harwich, Wrabness, Mistley, Manningtree & Dedham

---

Day 1  

---

Drop your bags at The Thorn at Mistley, ready for check-in later and start your Take it Easy Essex experience with morning coffee outside, overlooking Mistley Quay and the Swan Fountain. 

After coffee, head over to Harwich to the Victorian, ‘Ha’Penny’ Pier, so called because it used to cost a ha’penny to board, for a relaxing, 2-hour boat trip out through the Walton Backwaters, featured in Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Secret Water’, to see the grey and harbour seal colonies in the Hamford Water Nature Reserve.  These seals are an unusual russet colour due to the iron oxide-rich mud flats they call home.

Worked up an appetite…?  There are plenty of good eateries in Harwich, try The Pier Hotel, just opposite the pier, or The Alma Inn, tucked down a side street, opposite the historic Christopher Jones’s House, where the Master of the famous Mayflower ship once lived.     

A scenic drive across the Tendring peninsular brings you to Beth Chatto’s Garden, an inspirational, informal garden which was transformed from an overgrown wasteland using plants adapted by nature to thrive in different conditions.  This is a ‘must-see’ for anyone who enjoys a garden and the café here serves delicious home-made cakes and great coffee.  

NB: Cookery courses can be pre-booked in advance at The Mistley Kitchen, just a few doors along from The Thorn.

---

Day 2

---

After breakfast, head over to the nearby village Wrabness where you can park at the railway station and stroll down to the shoreline, passing the quirky House for Essex, a remarkable artistic creation by the Essex-born artist, Grayson Perry and a popular holiday let.  There are circular and linear walks of different lengths to enjoy through the woodland here.

After exploring Wrabness woodlands and beach, head on over to Manningtree where the Italian-inspired Lucca Enoteca on Manningtree high street is one of several options for lunch.  A riverside stroll afterwards along Mistley Walls affords spectacular views across the Stour estuary where you can spot oystercatchers, shell ducks, curlews and other wading birds and sometimes see Samphire growing wild in the salt marsh.

Stop by the chocolate box village of Dedham on the way home for afternoon tea at the famous Essex Rose, a tearoom run by Wilkins & Sons of Tiptree.