We continue our tour of chocolate box villages located just outside of London. They are excellent day-trip destinations, or you can live there if you can afford it.
Today we’ll take a look at Finchingfield in Essex, a village with no major historical landmarks but is almost ridiculously cute.
This charming village features several thatched-roof cottages nestled among greenery and a stream and pond teeming with ducks and swans. Bring your camera because this village is very photogenic and telegenic, and it has frequently been used to film television shows.
There is also the Norman church of St John the Baptist and the Guildhall, which is old enough to be mentioned in the Doomsday Book, the 1086 census. The Guildhall also has a museum, which is only open on Sundays.
The old mill from the 1700s, which has been restored and is open to the public, dates from around 1756. It was decommissioned in 1890. The mill’s four sails could be rotated to catch the wind and drive a couple of millstones. Finchlingfield used to have seven mills, but only one remains.
You can also go for a nice walk around the village and its surroundings; being in Essex, you will always be flat. You can get the instructions here.
There is also a house in Finchlingfield Tudor called Spains Hall, which is unfortunately privately owned, but on Sundays in the summer you can visit the beautiful garden, which contains a huge cedar of Lebanon planted in 1670, several rare plants, and an Adams sundial.
How to get to Finchingfield in Essex?
You can take the train to Baintree from Liverpool Street Station and get off at Chelmsford where you will find bus number 16 leading to Wethersfield, you can get off right at Finchingfield.
