Essex is a far better walking county than its reputation suggests. Its long, indented coastline of salt marsh, creeks and estuaries along the Colne, Blackwater and Crouch gives wide-skied walking, the Dedham Vale and Stour Valley in the north are Constable country, and inland the timbered villages and market towns of Thaxted, Finchingfield and Saffron Walden sit among gently rolling farmland and the parkland of Audley End.

The Essex Way runs across the county from Epping to Harwich, while the Flitch Way, Saffron Trail, St Peter’s Way and Stort Valley Way link towns and villages on level, easy paths. Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend and the Crouch estuary make good bases for shorter circular walks.