Off for a long weekend to an area we haven’t visited before: the Dengie Peninsula in Essex. It is sandwiched between the River Blackwater to the north and the River Crouch to the south with the the North Sea forming it’s eastern boundary. Major towns include Maldon in it’s north-west corner and Burnam on Crouch in the south.

We stayed for 3 nights at Dannemora, a very attractive CMC CL in the middle of the region. There were two other vans there when we arrived but we were all alone by the Sunday afternoon!

On Saturday we drove to Maldon, parking at Promenade Park – a large space dating back to Victorian times, it’s now full of grass, pools, walks and lots of kid’s play areas. We walked along the riverside into the town past a restored Thames barge taking visitors for short trips on the river. There were lots more historic barges at the quayside and the whole town had nice feel about it with interesting cafes and shops – some selling the famous Malden salt.

On Sunday we drove into Burnham on Crouch, parking next to the yacht harbour and, again, following the riverside walk into the town. Didn’t find the place as interesting as Maldon but definitely had that seaside vibe with lots of cafes and pubs on the waterfront and plenty of water based activities going on: sailing, windsurfing, houseboats, at least three yacht clubs and loads of families crabbing on one of the small jetties.