Mersea Island is a sleepy coastal location in north Essex with a beach where people go to spend a few lesiuredly hours and to sail. It is Britain’s most easterly, populated island and offers holidaymakers five square miles of unique natural beauty. Rows of bright beach huts back the deep sandy beach. Toilets, car parking and other favilities are on Victoria Esplanade. Additional free car parking is available near the beach. The island tends to be divided into east and West Mersea, the eastern part is mainly agricultural.
What West Mersea, Essex offers for Self-Catering Holidays
Mersea is a relaxing location for a self catering cottage holiday. It is an unspoiled backwater, popular with the sailing fraternity and visitors eager to enjoy a good fish meal. There is a well-known fishmongers and eatery called the Company Shed that people visit, bringing their own wine and accompaniments to freshly caught oysters and sea food. Oyster beds run along this stretch of the Essex coastline. Seals can sometimes be spotted lazing on the shores. For self caterers on holiday, there is good organic local produce available, including locally-reared meat, fruit and vegetables, wine from the vineyard, beer from the micro-brewery and a fresh bread and cakes from the traditional bakers.
There is planty of sailing on the Essex coast and in common with many other coastal Essex towns, Mersea has its own yacht club and regatta. There are many water-filled landscapes in this part of north Essex. Mersea Island sits separated from the mainland by the Pyefleet Channel and in between the estuaries of the Rivers Colne and Blackwater. The only way to Mersea Island is across the historic Strood, a 1,300 year old causeway that is sometimes flooded at high tide. Boats bob up an ddown or sink into the mud at low tide in all the convoluted creeks and channels around Mersea Island. Fascinating villages and towns to visit nearby are Tollesbury where there are more boats and sailing, Brightlingsea with another yacht club to the east and a most pleasant waterfront area with a beach and family friendly facilities.
Abberton Reservoir, 5 km inland from Mersea island, is a nature reserve where people go to spot waders and a multitude of other birds.
Mersea Island is a good family self catering holiday destination, the sort of place one arrives equipped with fishing nets and crabbing buckets for the children and expects hours of simple fun outdoors.
Colchester is the nearest large town and offers everything that anyone might need during a self catering holiday. The splendid zoo is good for a family day out, there is a leisure centre with a swimming pool, enormous soft play centre, an intriguing narrow laned shopping area, a castle with plenty of hands-on interactive exhibits for children. The profile of Essex has been raised since the television programme 'the only way is Essex' was aired and it come highly recommended as a good place for a family holiday.
Rent a houseboat, apartment or holiday cottage in Mersea or Essex for a fun filled and relaxing self catering break with never a dull moment.
Whether you choose to book a holiday cottage in West Mersea, an apartment, a lodge or another type of self-catering holiday accommodation, we hope you have your best holiday yet in Essex.
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