Janet Bell for Wayfair
East of England is a very beautiful flat land with miles of wide sandy beaches. Beginning in Essex (surprisingly rural with the longest coastline in the world), it meanders up through the windmills and broads of Suffolk and Norfolk, before ending in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, further north. These are some of the lowest populated counties in England, which face Belgium and The Netherlands over the sea.
Bedfordshire is a small county located on the east of England, not far from London. The town of Bedford has more Italians than anywhere, a throwback to when they immigrated during the war, so you’re never short of a nice vegan cappuccino or a plate of spaghetti! Elsewhere, most of the county is rural. The Chiltern Hills are made from chalk and stretch 70 miles from Bedfordshire to Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Situated near the River Thames, a lot of it is now owned by the Natinoal Trust, with the highest point near Wendover, and dense beechwoods in most areas.
Essex is a large county on the eastern side of England. But aside from the main towns, most of it is very rural with pretty villages and windmills, and England’s longest stretch of coastline. Famous for its ‘cheeky chappy’ image, in fact this is real farming country for the most part. The 350 mile of coastline includes Southend Pier, the longest in the world and Margate, a popular holiday resort. And apart from Devon, it has more walking footpaths than anywhere.
Sue Fenlon for Whistlefish
Norfolk is one of England’s quietest counties, situated on the east coast, facing the North Sea. If you swam in a straight line, you would likely end up somewhere around The Netherlands, and the scenery is quite similar. The low marshy land is home to lots of bogs and the manmade Norfolk Broads (a popular holiday destination that also supports lots of local birds and mammals) and you don’t have to go far to spot a windmill or two! Mostly flat land, the beaches here are stunning. Miles and miles of wide sandy beaches, often populated by familiar pastel-coloured pretty beach huts, so beloved in watercolour paintings and on local postcards to send back home. You have the popular seaside resorts like Cromer, but inland is just as nice, with Norwich arguably one of the prettiest cities in England, a well-kept leafy green paradise. What you’ll also find in Norfolk is England’s highest percentage of religious buildings. Years ago (before Henry VIIIth reigned), England was a Catholic country, with a good portion of men becoming monks. When he decided to set up a new Protestant religion so that he could divorce and remarry, many monks and nuns were forced out of their religious orders (some killed), and this is where most of them fled to, or lived. So today there is a strong history of the Catholic past of the nation.
Lucy Grossmith for Etsy
Suffolk is one of England’s most beautiful counties, situated on the east coast, opposite Belgium and The Netherlands. Just below Norfolk, it’s pretty similar. It has a Suffolk Broads and lots of beautiful wide sandy beaches and pretty villages, plus marshy land dotted with windmills. This is the county of pretty inland villages (if you ever had a picture of Constable’s The Haywain on your wall growing up, well that was here! Lowestoft is the most eastern town in England, and there are other popular seaside resorts like Felixstowe. A very flat county with few hills, the weather (like Norfolk is drier than most places) and the local marshes provide homes to many native birds and other wildlife.
