THORPE-LE-SOKEN

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What to see here...

Thorpe-le-Soken is a large village, a stopping-off point on the way to the North Essex sea-side towns. It has a wide array of village shops, pubs and restaurants.

One of the oldest buildings is The Bell Inn, recently catastrophically damaged by fire but has been painstakingly and beautifully restored. Comarques is a fine mid 18th century house, once lived in by Arnold Bennett. Lifehouse, a luxurious contemporary health spa has just opened in the grounds of Thorpe Hall. The glamorous new buildings replace the original Hall which was a revolting building and rightly demolished. But the listed gardens, planted by the Byng family, remain, have been restored and are spectacular.

The Walton Backwaters edge up to the borders of the village; peculiarly East Anglian and beautiful tidal mudflats and reedbeds where the only sound is wind and curlews. Arthur Ransome wrote books based here, The Snow Goose was filmed here, artists (including Paolozzi) liked to stay here. It was a favourite landfall for smuggling along this part of the coast.

The Backwaters join the sea behind the Naze at Walton, a small seaside town with the second longest pier in the country. Frinton is a couple of miles away, a bit genteel but, like Walton, it has a terrific beach. Look around The Avenues at large Arts and Crafts influenced houses (one is by Charles Voysey). There is a group of lovingly restored white Art Deco houses there, too.

Head North-West from Thorpe and you'll come to the pretty little town of Manningtree along the estuary of the River Stour. Further along the river it is Constable country - Dedham, Flatford, East Bergholt by the river lined with willows under the Suffolk sky.