Waterside Holiday Park

St Lawrence Bay, Mersea Island, the Blackwater Estuary and surroundings are an excellent part of Essex for all things nautical and seafoody. Fishing, sailing, sightseeing, nature spotting and sampling Essex oysters in Maldon are in the area, and these here parts have been farmed for the pearly critters since our savvy ancestors first put traps down in the Tollesbury Flats during Anglo-Saxon times. Pick up your own oyster haul at Maldon’s Promenade Park’s seafood bar, then take a hike to Hythe Bay to see the old Thames barges, a pull for visitors the country over. If you’re island hopping, take a sail on one of the barges out to Osea Island, or wander around the estuary at low tide to walk out to Mersea and Northey. Boat trips are available from the town around the Blackwater Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve teeming with water birds and varied habitats including reed beds and mudflats; an RSPB reserve is at the estuary’s Old Hall Marshes. Natch there are all sorts of hooks around here for anglers too: five sea fishing boats operate out of Mersea for sea angling, four coarse lakes are at Heybridge in Maldon, and the areas inland and around Essex have several dozen fisheries from Colchester to Chelmsford to Romford. If you’re going further afield, stop off at Maldon’s tourist information centre for discount tickets to Colchester Zoo and Southend’s Adventure Island and Sea Life Centre, a mere few of the options around Essex for family days out. Southend, where the kids can run along the world’s longest pier, also has the Southend Cliff Railway to quiver at and a seafront that’s seven miles long. Other seaside days out are nearby in Leigh, further along the coast to Clacton-on-Sea and at Waterside’s nearest beach, Bradwell. If it should drizzle somewhat, take the herd to the award-winning Old MacDonald's Farm in Brentwood, which has a huge indoor play area along with its petting farm and rollercoaster; the giant play frame at Maldon’s Monkey Puzzle at Madison Heights, or to splash about on the Jungle River ride at the Blackwater Leisure Centre. Suffolk, Norfolk and the Broads are all accessible for day trips from Waterside too.