West Mersea

West Mersea sits at the western tip of Mersea Island, a low, flat spit of land dangling off the Essex coast between the Colne and Blackwater estuaries, just south of Colchester. It's reached by a single road, The Strood, a causeway across the saltmarsh that floods with the tide twice a day — check the tide tables before you set off, because for an hour or so either side of high water the island is genuinely cut off from the mainland.

That slightly precarious, end-of-the-line feel is part of the appeal. West Mersea itself is a working boating town first and a holiday destination second: houseboats and beach huts line the foreshore, dinghies and yachts crowd the hard, and the smell of the oyster sheds drifts along the front. It has been a fishing and oyster-farming settlement since Roman times, and today it's still one of the best places in England to eat oysters within sight of the water they were grown in.

Top things to do in West Mersea

West Mersea is small, but there's plenty to fill a day or a long weekend, from the beach to the island's wilder eastern end.

• West Mersea Oyster Bar and The Company Shed — two of the town's best-known seafood spots, both serving Colchester rock oysters and Mersea natives bred and processed on site, a few yards from the water.
• Cudmore Grove Country Park — a 102-acre park at the island's eastern end where the Colne and Blackwater estuaries meet, with sandy beach, grazing marsh, sea wall walks, WWII pillboxes, the remains of a 16th-century blockhouse, and eroding cliffs that have given up 300,000-year-old fossils.
• The Strood and Mersea Island Museum — the causeway itself is a spectacle at high tide, and the small local museum tells the story of the island's oyster fishery, boatbuilding and wartime history.
• West Mersea Yacht Club — founded in 1899 and now one of the East Coast's principal racing clubs, with immediate access to the Blackwater, Colne and Thames Estuary; visiting sailors and non-members alike can usually get a meal in the clubhouse.
• West Mersea Town Regatta — an annual sailing regatta dating back to 1838, with around a hundred boats racing off the town in a variety of classes each summer.
• Round-the-island walk — a roughly 13-mile circuit of Mersea Island's sea wall, taking in saltmarsh, mudflats, oyster beds and views across the Blackwater, achievable as a long day out for fit walkers.
• Mersea Island Vineyard — a working vineyard on the island offering tours and tastings of its own wines, a change of pace from the boats and beaches.

Getting to West Mersea

West Mersea lies about nine miles south of Colchester, reached via the B1025 and then the B1026 across The Strood causeway. Colchester itself is on the A12 and has a mainline station with regular services to London Liverpool Street (around an hour), from where local buses run on to Mersea. Driving is by far the easiest way to arrive, not least because you'll want a car to explore Cudmore Grove and the wider island — just build tide times into your plans, since the causeway floods for a window either side of high water and there is no way round it.

Best time to visit West Mersea

Summer, from May through September, is when West Mersea is at its liveliest, with sailing regattas, the town regatta in August, busy beach huts and long evenings on the front outside the oyster bars. Spring and early autumn are quieter and often just as pleasant, with milder crowds and good conditions for walking the sea wall and birdwatching on the estuary mudflats, which draw large numbers of wading birds outside the summer months. Winter has its own appeal for a bracing coastal walk and a plate of oysters, though some seasonal businesses scale back their hours.

Where to stay in West Mersea

Accommodation on the island runs from seafront beach huts and static caravans to campsites and small B&Bs, with West Mersea town itself the obvious base for walking to the harbour, oyster bars and yacht club. Cudmore Grove and the quieter eastern end of the island suit those who want to be closer to the beach and country park rather than the town centre. Book ahead for peak summer weekends and regatta week, when the island's limited accommodation fills up quickly, and always factor tide times into your journey if you're arriving in the evening.

Food and drink in West Mersea

Seafood is the reason most people come to eat in West Mersea. The Company Shed is a byword for simple, fresh shellfish served during the day, while the West Mersea Oyster Bar offers a fuller evening menu built around oysters bred in the creeks around the town. The Sandbank Pub & Restaurant on Seaview Avenue has beachside seating and regular live music, and the Island Art Cafe on Coast Road combines a well-reviewed café with a small gallery. For a drink with a view of the racing, the West Mersea Yacht Club is open to visitors most days of the week.