Mersea Island

It’s only at high tide that Mersea Island is actually separate from the rest of Essex, when a stretch of the B1025 is submerged beneath the waves and becomes the ‘Strood’ causeway. Once there, the island is a flat five miles across with plenty of simple pleasures to enjoy. Try the daily catch at Richard Haward’s Company Shed on the Coast Road (01206 382 700) where you take your own bread and drinks along. The local farmed flat oysters and Colchester Natives are legendary and the seafood platters are excellent too. Next to the oyster farms are boatyards, working fishing boats and yachts in the summer season, as well as sand and shingle beaches. There’s also a small museum. Over at the tiny East Mersea, the Cudmore Country Park is great for bird-watching and you might be lucky enough to see seals in the estuary. The Mersea Regatta takes place every August, when a week of sailing events culminates in a round-the-island race (boats are carried across the Strood by hand).