A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

You’re never far from a green space in Colchester. Unwind, relax and enjoy nature in the great outdoors.

It only takes a short walk from Colchester’s compact city centre to start discovering some of the beautiful open spaces, parks, and scenic countryside that you can explore on a visit to Colchester.

In the heart of the city the Victorian Castle Park boasts well managed gardens, and multiple historic sites of note and is bordered by The River Colne flowing along its northern edge. Keep tracking the river and the popular Wivenhoe Trail will take you further out into the countryside and the coast.

A little further north than Castle Park lies High Woods Country Park. A wilder affair featuring woodland, meadows, lakes and grassland, whilst Essex Wildlife Trust manage two extensive and internationally important nature reserves at Fingringhoe and Abberton to the south of the town. Mersea Island offers coastal walks and sea breezes alongside its famous seafood, fishing, boating community and beaches. Cudmore Grove in the East is the wilder cousin of the more populous West Mersea and recently gained international recognition in the television adaptation of The Essex Serpent.

Constable Country and the Dedham Vale are a short journey via car, bicycle or public transport from the city centre and are a Designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty due to their influence on John Constable, often regarded as Britain’s finest landscape painter. The landscapes remain largely untouched and numerous walks across the typically English countryside are available.

KEY LOCATIONS

• Castle Park

• High Woods Country Park • Mersea Island – Cudmore Grove Country Park • Abberton Reservoir

• Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve • Gosbecks Archaeological Park • Beth Chatto Gardens

Check our website for more information visitcolchester.com/ things-to-do