To Love Essex?

[TigOldBitties]

People seem to hate it. I really like the place overall, obviously some pockets of the not so nice, but I can't understand why it gets such a lot of stick.

I love the accents, the people, most of the areas, the location etc.

I know people will mention TOWIE, but nearly all the things they are accused of appear and often with much worse examples in all the similar shows like Geordie Shore, Desperate Scousewives, Made in Chelsea and The Valleys.

I live in Essex and lived until 8 when we moved to Swedish Lapland (see name) and I love it.

Love Leigh On Sea, and have lived for a tiny bit in Saffron Walden (nice but at the time I had no kids and it was boring!) and Romford (my neighbours were friendly and it was close ish to Redbridge in London but don't reccomend) and Maldon, the place I grew up.

Now we live in th London border though (in Woodford Green area!) and have friends living in Chigwell (but they say there are some giant houses and they get jealous on a drive to the corner shop!) and in Buckhurst Hill and Loughton.

Love the accent too, always smile when I hear my DC's accent.

Hi Ladies, I'm looking to move to villages near Braintree. Should I avoid them? They seemed nice and the schools were good/excellent Ofsted inspected.

I should admit I've never been to Braintree, and have only driven through Harlow. Romford and Basildon, are exactly the places I was thinking of along with Grays and Tilbury.

But I've never been somewhere that doesn't have places which aren't that desirable.

I love the accents though, and all the 'fashion', I like that people do dress up.

Stansted is Essex, but nearest town is Bishops Stortford which is Hertfordshire - it has 4 secondary schools rated outstanding. Lots of very pretty Essex villages up here too (and no sign of TOWIE types either)

Oh i like Writtle, very quaint little place and near Chelmsford.

Also Finchingfield, its just beautiful, close to Sudbury and Saffron Walden, loads of schools around.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=finchingfield&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tERsUZ67I-Om0QXn6YHADQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgrc=KvoKmaySxopLeM%3A%3Bd2tPSpxgJL6B_M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fi.telegraph.co.uk%252Fmultimedia%252Farchive%252F02132%252FFinchingfield_2132221i.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%252Fproperty%252Fpropertypicturegalleries%252F9068734%252FDownsize-dream-invest-in-a-countryside-property.html%253Fimage%253D4%3B620%3B388

I am immensely fond of Essex, and I think it is deeply misunderstood and unfairly maligned. It has become a parody of itself in recent years, mostly on the say-so of people who often have never even been there. Or maybe they went to Lakeside once in 1995.

I lived there for 13 years, completely voluntarily - neither DH nor I are from there originally. The people are great; very real, bright, motivated, sharp, warm, clever.

The villages and the countryside are beautiful, the schools are good, the crime rate is low, generally speaking it is a very affluent county - Essex is not just Basildon or Dagenham you know. And neither is it all flashy, shallow Brentwood.

I loved living there. We only moved away because of my DH's job. The rough parts are nowhere near as rough as many places I could name, and the lovely parts are truly lovely.

I agree that the traits that people think are 'typically Essex' can be found in just about every county, if you look in the towns where working 'class people done good' live. And what's so wrong with that anyway? I am delighted that so many ordinary people have prospered and made more money than their parents ever hoped to. Isn't that a good thing? Should we not celebrate social mobility and the freedom it brings?

I favour north and mid Essex over south Essex and the Thames estuary towns, admittedly - they are not my cup of tea, and I find there is much more of a TOWIE ethos. Anywhere north of the A12 you really don't see so much of that nonsense.

I'm from Hornchurch, close to Upminster which has already been discussed and is also very nice. I want to stand up for Romford though which think get a bad press. It does have some dodgy bits but Gidea Park is lovely with lots of green space and even faster links to London than Upminster and Hornchurch. It also has some amazing primaries and secondaries as well as competitively priced housing (for a London Borough).

I would agree about giving Harlow a miss however. Husband lived there from the age of 12 and hates it and his parents still live there- it's fecking grim.

I always fancy living in Chelmsford because I love the market and the parks. Now I don't have to worry about the dds' schools it's a definite possibility. I also fancy my brother's clifftop flat within spitting distance of Southend High Street. I wish he'd boot his tenant out and rent it to me!

Halstead and Witham are actually really attractive small towns, but unfortunately they both suffer from having a very mixed demographic and the rougher ends are pretty rough. Same with Maldon to an extent. But the nice parts are extremely nice. There are lots of very affluent people in lovely houses in Witham. Not that being affluent alone should make you 'nice' necessarily, but it would seem to be the case that cheap, rough areas get more than their fair share of arseholes.

Halstead and Witham are nice looking places but some real rough ones live there. Shame, because Halstead is a pretty, old style market town.

I grew up in Chelmsford but moved away when I went to university and never moved back. My parents still live there as do some friends.

I have to say I am deeply jealous of the secondary schools, they are much better than the schools in my area.

House prices are much cheaper too

Gidea Park is a good area and tbh I don't really see whats wrong with Hornchurch.

I think TheRealFellatio is right in that many of the things its criticised for such as working class people done good, my family included, are actually good traits.

You would have to drag me away from lovely Leigh-on-Sea kicking and screaming!

Even if I won the lottery I would stay here.

I've lived in Colchester nearly all my life (lived in London for 4 years then back to Colchester). It's a lovely town...we have wonderful parks and a vibrant music and arts scene. I like Chelmsford as well for shopping. We do have really good schools here as well. I went to Colchester County High School for Girls.

Essex does get a really bad rep, i've lived here for all 30 years of my life, i returned to Sible after 3 years and have no desire to move now at all. As places go Essex is a pretty county and full of places to explore.

Just moved to north Essex and loving it so far! We moved out of London here and I am loving the space and peace. I love the estuaries around Colchester and Ipswich, the landscape is so beautiful and unusual.

I'm from Newcastle so supposedly I am a cross beween Geordie Shore and Towie, though of course I'm nothing like either and neither are the areas where I live/lived! We're in Manningtree BTW and also looked at Colchester and Wivenhoe.

DH and I are Billericay exiles - we grew up there, but had to move east to be able to afford a family home.

I can't think of much not to like about Essex. 25 minutes on the train to all the museum, theatres and activities in London. A short drive to some lovely bits of coast. There are some very pretty villages around. I can see green fields from my window and there are plenty of country parks and open spaces. Oh, and easy access to France to as the channel ports and tunnel are only a short drive away (or head to Harwich and go to Amsterdam instead).

www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk/

I love Hedingham Castle.

The thing is, when I was younger I spent quite a bit of time in Dagenham, or Aggy Daggy as we began calling it. I even liked that. Not perfect but theres something about the place in general.

Am really fed up of people knocking it. Everyone raves about certain places, Southwold for example, Dh bought a house there, but I found the people there to be shockingly rude and unhelpful.

Think I am definitely an Essex/East End stalwart.

Places that are really lovely are:

Danbury and Little Baddow
Writtle
Stock, Norsey Woods and most of Billericay, and a bunch of villages around there and Hanningfield
Brentwood, Shenfield and Hutton - falshy but very nice.
The Easters and the Walthams, north of Chelmsford
Loads of villages around Chelmford/Maldon, like Ulting and Woodham Walter
Terling, just outside Hatfield Peverel
the Braxteds, just outside Prevail
Wickham Bishops, just outside Witham
Coggeshall and Kelvedon, between Chelmsford and Colchester
Messing and Copford Green, near Colchester
Burnham on Crouch
Wivenhoe
Frinton
The Colnes, Stoke By Nayland and Bures, on the Suffolk border (in fact most of the places on or around the Suffolk border are bloody lovely, and pretty posh)
Langham, Boxted, Dedham and the villages in 'Constable Country' (ditto posh)

There are loads more that I have heard are lovely but I have never been there, like Wanstead, and Saffron Waldon.

But I am biased towards the countryside.

Hatfield Peverel, not Prevail. Damned autocorrect.

I am from Essex, and I love it, would move back there now if I could. I think its a great place and holds many good memories!

I moved away years ago but still miss it and go back to see friends as much as possible - there is very little mobility in my old area; I am still in contact with about half my school year via FB and about 95% still live in Essex, and most within about 3 miles of the place where we grew up. The others have moved 'out' towards chelmsford/ colchester.

Real, add Sible Hedingham and Castle Hedingham to that, not that im biased, Primary School in Castle is lovely.

I grew up in the cotswolds, had never set foot in Essex until my mum moved there when I was in my early 30s. I now go there often and It's been a discoveAry for me, I really like it. The countryside doesn't compare with the west country or some other more spectacular areas but the estuaries are lovely and there are some really nice towns. My DM is in maldon and I love it! Just getting to know Colchester which I like a lot. Lovely villages in north Essex as has been mentioned. And all within easy reach of London.

YANBU. Essex is fabulous