On the somewhat worrying occasion of my 50th birthday, following a family party, I retired with my wife for a few days to the county of my birth: the much-maligned Essex. Maldon was our first stop, the wind sweeping up the sword of Byrhtnoth as he tried too late to repel the Vikings of 991. Then a difficult choice of real ales at the beer festival in The Jolly Sailor. Further excursions to Constable country, where we snuck into Suffolk, and the modern but vernacular development at Wivenhoe showed the riverine and estuarine (is that a word?) nature of the county.

To cap it all, we avoided the Royal Wedding by driving down to Mersea Island and were rewarded with our first ever sight of an avocet, a bird far more worthy of our plumage fascination than she at the Abbey.

The Jolly Sailor
Hythe Quay, Maldon, Essex CM9 5HP
+44(0)1621 853 463
www.jollysailor.com
Google map: bit.ly/ml3Y29

Holiday Inn, Colchester was a cheap and handy location for visiting all the above places

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