The Essex landscape gently undulates, with the highest ground to the north and west, near the Herfordshire and Cambridgeshire borders. A variety of routes are selected across the county to give a broad flavour of the county's landscapes and heritage. On the marshes of Essex there is a genuine feeling of solitude that is hard to find anywhere else in southern England. Colchester, the oldest recorded town in Britain, is featured in one of the walks, and there are routes through Epping and Hatfield forests, which contain some of the finest surviving fragments of England's medieval forests. The Essex-Suffolk border is Constable Country, and walkers are guided through Dedham Vale, passing Flatford Mill and Willy Lott's Cottage.

Author Biography

Deborah King is an outdoor writer and photographer based in London. She knows the Home Counties area well and has written and revised several Pathfinder Walks and Short Walks titles in the South East of England.