Essex Serpent Country

We drove through the fog to my sister's in Burnham-on-Crouch to pick up the manuscript of the autobiography of Thomas Smith, who built our family home and nursery when he was manager of the Mayland back-to-the-land movement. My sister thought I might like to read it before it goes to RHS Hyde Hall to be featured there.

After a nice chat we headed home. It was still foggy. I decided to call in to Creeksea on the way so that Ollie dog could stretch her legs. When she saw the river she cried to be let off the lead for a paddle. (Extras) Soon after that the sun broke through.

We set off again but I couldn't resist ducking into Fambridge. We had a lovely walk on the saltings where we saw and heard lots of seabirds including Brent geese, redshanks, little egrets and pewits. A trio of wigeon are pictured in my main image. We met a couple who told us about the filming for the TV series of Sarah Perry's book The Essex Serpent that took place here last summer. They said that Jeff's Cottages had been painted and lots of animals installed in the gardens. Somebody got stranded by the tide on the saltings and had to be rescued.