An expert guide from The Telegraph has revealed the best free things to do in Essex.
Conducted by Maldon-born travel writer, Kerry Walker their guide lists three Essex activities for the family to enjoy free of cost.
Every attraction and activity in their list has been tried and tested by their destination expert.
What are the best free things to do in Essex?
Walk the Essex Way
The expert said: "Hike a leg of this 81-mile trail to see a more countrified side to Essex as you walk through gentle landscapes, historic towns and church-steeple-topped villages.
"The well-signposted path winds through meadows and ancient woodland from forest-fringed Epping to Harwich’s sea walls and salt marshes.
"Mostly, you’ll walk along the banks of river-woven valleys, hedgerow green lanes and bridleways.
"The path lifts the lid on the county’s little-talked-about treasures: stave-built Greensted Church; Pleshey’s Norman castle earthworks; Cressing Temple, the earliest English settlement of the Knights Templar and Constable Country.
Website: essexhighways.org
Price: Free
Dedham
The expert said: "No romantic painter captured the quiet beauty of the English lowlands like John Constable.
"With rows of sagging timber-framed houses in chalk-box colours, the village of Dedham on the Essex-Suffolk border is an idyllic spot for a ramble through the countryside that the artist skilfully committed to canvas.
"The classic four-mile, two-hour circular walk from Dedham to Flatford Mill unravels landscapes as soft as a brushstroke, leading through water meadows, cow-grazed fields and along the willow-draped banks of the River Stour.
"Cross a humpback bridge and you reach Willy Lott’s House, which you might recognise from Constable’s 1821 masterpiece The Hay Wain, and a riverside tea room where you can pause for drinks, lunch or ice cream."
Website: dedhamvale-nl.org.uk, theboatyarddedham.co.uk
Price: Free but boat hire comes at a cost
The Hylands Estate
The expert said: "On the green fringes of Chelmsford, the Hylands Estate is the kind of place where you plan to only spend an hour and end up at for an entire day.
"Its centrepiece is Hylands House, a neoclassical manor that, incidentally, starred in Netflix’s The Crown.
"But it’s the vast parkland with its beautifully planted duck pond-studded gardens, ancient woodlands, sweeping meadows and lakes that makes it such a brilliant place to let kids run free.
"The deli in the stables courtyard is great for a light lunch.
"Nab an outside table when the sun’s out."
Website: hylandsestate.co.uk
Price: Free but Go Ape comes at a cost
To find out more, visit The best things to do in Essex | Telegraph Travel
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