Clacton On Sea – Walton On the Naze Walk – 03.08.2013

“Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside
Oh I do like to be beside the sea!
I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom!” © 1907 by John A. Glover-Kind

As we were about to embark on our stroll along the coast, I was reminded of this quirky song about the seaside. The sun was shining, the sea was sparkling blue, children were making sandcastles and the whole place just generally buzzing! How nice to see the English Seaside so busy! Our journey had brought us to the seaside town of Clacton On Sea, where smugglers have walked along the beaches, fortifications have been built to defend the coastline and Billy Butlin built his wonderland for holidays! Our walk in Clacton started out from the end of Clacton Sea Front and we were heading towards Clacton Pier

Had we carried out this walk quite some time back, the area would have been very different. The whole place would have been home to Butlins Holiday camp, which provided many happy hours of holiday fun in years gone by. The camp was built in 1938 and despite being requisitioned by the MOD for use during World II, it soon reopened its gates for holidaymakers. The camp’s heyday was during the late 50’s / 60’s and during 1958 Cliff Richard and the drifters played here! Sadly the camp closed in 1983 as tourists choose cheap foreign holidays instead of the Butlins holiday. Unfortunately this led to a decline in people visiting Clacton, however, I could see today the town seems to have survived the closure of such a place despite it being sadly missed!

Just at the edge of the seafront I caught sight of an odd shaped building, this was a “Martello Tower”. The tower was not built as a seaside attraction, but to deter invading forces away from the shoreline. This fortification was built during the early C19th as part of a defence strategy against the Emperor Napoleon’s impending invasion. Quite a number of these turrets still exist throughout England although they are no longer fortresses of any kind. I am not sure about the name “Martello” really, I think it sounds like some sort of sweet LOL. We headed away from the tower and strolled along the seafront to enjoy the sights and sounds of the seaside.

From 2013 – 03.08.2013 – Clacton – Walton On the Naze Walk

It was not long before we had reminder that these beaches had not always been about sandcastles. Smugglers once roamed the local area and it was known that they used to load their cargo on the beach here at Clacton. Unlike the town of today, the beach was accessible between two marshes, making it more attractive to smugglers. Particularly, as the revenue men would have been unable to reach the beach quickly from their barracks in Colchester! Since the early C19th Clacton’s seashore now sees more tourists than Smugglers! During the first part of the C20th, the beach, saw another visitor, Sir Winston Churchill. He was forced to land at Clacton on sea in a naval plane.

As we walked further along the promenade, the beach and walkway became much more crowded. This was because we were approaching the centre of attraction for Clacton – “Clacton Pier”. The pier was full of amusements and rides, a far cry from it’s original use when it was built in 1871. Originally, the pier was used by steamboats to bring goods to the town, but it also brought many day trippers to the area. So it was not long before the pier was altered to include many light entertainments including it’s own pavilion. The pier suffered damage during Second World War and since then it has passed through several hands and despite improvements over the years, it suffered a decline. The current owners of pier have completely refurbished the bars and renewed the rides and hope that the pier will be around for a long time to come!

We headed away from the pier by walking up the hill under a Venetian style Bridge. It was constructed in the early C20th in order to provide a continuous walk through the seafront gardens, which had been landscaped on both sides of the cliffs. When we reached the top of the slope, we turned into a small amusement park which now resides in what would have once been part of these formal gardens. Taking a glance across to the other side of the bridge, the gardens were in full bloom, if we had time, it looked a nice place to sit and enjoy watching the world go by! We carried on walking through the maze of rides and past the crazy golf to find our way back to the seashore. We did stop, for a few moments, to take in the view, where we could see along the pier and both ways along Clacton beach.

From 2013 – 03.08.2013 – Clacton – Walton On the Naze Walk

We rejoined the promenade to continue our walk along the seafront, which seems to stretch on for quite some time. The whole walkway is part of the Clacton sea defences, which have been built and strengthened over the years. Some of the defences were built in 1889, a sure sign that the peoples of the area knew that the sea could cause a lot of problems along the coast. We have seen some of the coastal erosion when we walked to Hemsby, so it seems that Clacton is quite prepared. Strolling further along, we left the noise of Clacton behind and the beaches became much quieter. With the blue skies and shining sun it really was a lovely day for a walk, we were even treated to see a beautiful bird of prey just hovering by the side of the path, not taking any notice of us.

We followed the path up a slope and out on to a large expanse of open fields. The coast path seemed to blend into the landscaped as it was no longer defined by the cliffs which it shadowed. I could see a small notice board in the distance, so I took the opportunity to find out where we had walked. It was “Holland Haven Country Park”, the whole reserve is roughly 100 acres, which would be great to explore sometime! Not only does it contain fields, it has quite a lot of marshland and the park been designated an area of SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). It has therefore been recognised that rare and varied flora grow here.

We decided to walk along the sea wall, rather than the dusty track next to the park. The sandy trail below us was actually a cycle route and was very popular, I was quite glad we were walking along the wall as avoiding the all the cyclists! Just beyond the cycle route the scenery seemed to changed from the wild unkempt fields, to immaculately looking green grass. We were walking past a Golf Course which was very well kept, apparently this particular course has been established here since 1895! The sea wall suddenly became more of a walkway once again, as we had reached quite a number of beachhuts, most of which were in use. It was quite difficult to negotiate this part of the footpath as it was so packed!

From 2013 – 03.08.2013 – Clacton – Walton On the Naze Walk

Just beyond the huts we were able to find a shelter to stop and have some lunch and rest for a while. As I gazed around, beachhuts seemed to line the entire shoreline. Apparently there are just over 1000 beach huts in this area, and have been a feature here since the Victorian era. Just behind the huts was a small town, this was Frinton-On-Sea. Frinton On Sea seems like a quiet seaside town as it does not have the amusements like Clacton On Sea, but nonetheless has the main attraction of a lovely beach 🙂 So much so that it has attracted visitors such as, Edward and Mrs Simpson! Rested, we continued on past the beachhuts and left Frinton-On-Sea behind.

The coast path had brought us to Walton Pier, which was very busy for late afternoon. This pier was originally built during the 1870’s but unfortunately it did not reach out into deep enough waters for boats to dock alongside. Therefore the pier was rebuilt in 1898 with a much longer length, so much so it had a small tramway on the pier! It has survived fire and storms and is still standing today. Our walk was to take us away from the seafront and to take us into Walton itself. Walton does hold its own charm and unlike some larger seaside places, shops are small and the entire place is not overcrowded by amusements. Walton’s peak as a seaside resort was prior to the second world war, it was a popular place to visit.

“The town lies between the sea-cliffs and Walton Creek, which is much frequented by sportsmen in quest of wild fowl, and on the head of the creek stand powerful tide and wind mills: the air is salubrious and bracing, and the beach, consisting of sand and fine shingle, is well adapted for bathing, and affords a pleasant promenade, the ebb tide leaving a hard smooth sand.”

Kelly’s Directory of Essex 1937

Sadly it was badly damaged by bombs during the war and with the pier being partially closed for a while meant the holiday trade ceased. Unfortunately post 1945 Walton’s Glory days have never really returned, which is a shame as it a quaint place to visit. At the end of the high street, was the parish church, “All Saints”. I was keen to note that this church was built in the late C19th and was to replace the original church in Walton, which fell into the sea in 1798! I can see why the church was built so far away from the cliff edge!

We ended our walk here for the day, it had been such a lovely day to walk along the prom 🙂 Please feel free to look through all the photos for this walk –

2013 – 03.08.2013 – Clacton – Walton On the Naze Walk

Our route was as follows –

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Ashford Surrey – Shepperton Village Walk – 28.07.2013

It was a particularly late Sunday afternoon for our first walk for quite some time. We had reached the quiet village of Ashford, no intrusive loud noises and very little traffic. Just beyond the small town centre, our stroll took us into the residential part of the town, which seemed even more peaceful 🙂 Just along the road we passed by a lovely brick built Church, known as St Hildas. Unfortunately I was only able to catch a glimpse of one of the stained glass windows and from I could see do look rather charming. The history of the church is available from their website at a small fee. We proceeded past St Hildas and down a maze of roads which eventually brought us out to a large “A” road. It was not fun walking alongside such a sizeable road, with the traffic being fast and noisy in comparison to where we had just walked! To make matters worse we were both caught up in a very heavy rain shower!

On the otherside of the road we saw that there was a very large embankment, which had signs all along saying ” Anger Eep Water”, which we interpreted to mean “Danger Deep Water”, I don’t think I could be angry at anything that was “Eep” (whatever “Eep” was :-)). The Deep waters that resided behind the huge hill actually belonged to the “Queen Mary Reservoir”. When we reached the corner of the road, we discovered the entrance to the reservoir and the signs for the “Queen Mary Sailing Club”, this would explain the large number of sailing vessels we had seen perched at the top of the slope! The club has the advantage of unobstructed wind as this stretch of water is 45ft (~13.71m) above neighbouring countryside! We did hope that there would have been a public footpath at this point for us to walk around the lake, but we could not see one 😦 , only the entrance the club, it was a shame as it would have been nice to walk around I am sure!

From 2013 – 28.07.2013 – Ashford – Shepperton Walk

Just past the entry point to the club, I spotted a lovely art deco gate, which was obviously a remanent of when the reservoir was originally built! These waters were officially opened in 1925 by his Majesty King George V and Queen Mary. Upon a one electric signal he put the pumps in action and admitted the water into the reservoir and officially named the lake “Queen Marys Reservoir”. It is still used today to feed water into the London water supply. Continuing along this quieter road alongside the reservoir, we reached “Charlton Village”. As we passed through this quaint hamlet, it was hard to imagine that it had been in existence since the the Domesday book in when it was entitled as ‘Cerdentone’. The village has been largely agricultural for most of its life, but this changed when the Reservoir was built as it unfortunately took away quite a lot of the land which was to the west of the Charlton. Despite this, it still has 2 working farms and is home to the “Harrow Inn”, a beautiful thatched building, built in the C15th and known to be the longest continuously inhabited building in the original county of Middlesex, although we did not stop for pint 😦

Walking past Charlton, we spotted where a giant boot sale would have been, we were were a day late unfortunately 😦 ! We past by a horse riding school that was at the bottom of the banks of the lake. It was then I spotted a huge sign in the distance for “Shepperton Studios”. We couldn’t see much as it was hidden behind new fences and high trees, but there did seem to be some activity behind them! Perhaps some sort of filming was taking place? Studios have not always stood here, the grounds was once home a mansion house. The original C17th house, which suffered at the hands of a fire in the late C19th, still stands today in the middle of the studios! It belonged to a local Nobleman and his established family lived in the estate for over 200 years, and even managed to entertain Royal visitors! It was not until the early C20th that the grounds and houses were bought out and put to use as a studio. The studios had a short break during the war when it was requisitioned by the ministry of defence as a storage location, but after the war it reopened for business. Since that time the studios is known to made some famous films such as “Alien” (1979), The African Queen (1952), The Guns of Navarone (1960) and Gladiator (2000).

From 2013 – 28.07.2013 – Ashford – Shepperton Walk

Turning away from the studios we discovered a small brick built church. Unfortunately we could not look inside but we did manage to walk around the outside it was was a nice little church and we would have sat and pondered for a while. I will say it’s view was a little odd as it looked straight into the sound stages of Shepperton Studios! I suppose the church is used to having the studios being firmly established, particularly as it has been used for filming, it was used in the Dad’s Army Film! 🙂 As we wandered along the road I spotted a great footpath but I was unsure where it may lead! There were no public footpath signs or any information notices! There was a huge gate. From what I have discovered I presume that these would have belonged the large manor house that resides int the middle of the studios. from the size of the gates the house must be very grand :). We decided to continue along the pavement, which carried on over a rather lovely bridge. The design reminded me somewhat of the bridge we had seen on the Hampstead Heath with its lovely small white columns. Its view was not a grand house or heath, just a river. In fact this was the river Ash, where the small town of Ashford, where we had walked from had derived it name from, as the town grew up on the banks of this waterway.

Just past the river, we found a small green area to sit in and eat lunch. This was the Littleton Recreation Ground. It backed onto the River Ash, which looked very jungle like through the trees. It was really peaceful here, but unfortunately we could not sit here for a long time as we were chased away by a wasp who decided our lunch was very tasty LOL. We had to move rapidly to the other end of the recreation ground to finish our lunch! Once we had rested, we carried on our walk on to Shepperton Green. This tiny hamlet had been welcoming visitors since Saxon times apparently! How friendly of them 🙂

We finally reached Shepperton Village, where we finished our walk for the day. For all the walks photos, please feel free to browse through them here –

2013 – 28.07.2013 – Ashford – Shepperton Walk

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