Essex England

Travelled : 171km (Dartford Crossing £2.50)

Stay: Thaxted: free parking, public toilets N51.95529 E0.34359

Visited:Upnor, Coggeshall NT Grange Barn & Paycocke’s House, Finchingfield, Thaxted

After a quiet night we set off just after 7am to hopefully beat the early morning traffic. We decided to stop near Upnor Castle and after breakfast of galettes and then ventured down to the banks of the Medway River to have a peak at the Castle that wasn’t open yet.

Hoping that the peak hour traffic was over we then braved the London ring road and crossed the Thames River at Dartford. As we were heading North we went under the water for only £2.50, paid via the website. We then had an easy route to Coggeshall, just out of Colchester, to visit a couple of National Trust properties (free for us Australian members). We parked at the Grange Barn and had a cuppa while we waited for the 11am opening. The barn is a stunning timber framed structure originally built in 1240 by the Abbey. The roof has an impressive 85,000 tiles and was restored in 1989. 

Mark particularly enjoyed the carpenter, Bryan Saunders, collection of tools. 

We then walked through the village to Paycocke’s House which is a glorious example of Tudor craftsmanship, built buy a cloth merchant. Unfortunately he only enjoyed the property for 9 years. Over the centuries it passed through various families until it was donated to the National Trust in 1924.

 We then made our way to Hedingham castle which was closed and so continued on to Finchingfield. This village is described as picture postcard and most photographed in England! We did participate in the said photography of the thatched cottages, village green, duck pond and Norman Church. 

We then moved on to Thaxted which had possible motorhome parking. Due to us finding a spot we decided we may as well stay. The guide book says there are plenty of timber framed houses, a 14th century Guildhall, a windmill built in 1804, almshouses and a magnificent 14th century church. Having explored a few of these we chilled out for the rest of the day.