Exploring England – Finchingfield, Essex

I am a wanderer, a drifter, and love to travel and see new places. Im incredibly lucky that in my 43 years, I have been to many beautiful, interesting and far flung destinations, yet strangely, have seen very little of places closer to home. That is in part why Nik and I decided to start exploring closer to home, and our first venture exploring England took us to Finchingfield Essex

At 19, off I went with my backpack to travel the world, and when I finally came home at 21, had seen a lot, partied a lot, and had a huge appreciation for our world and its beauty. My husband and I decided this was the year that, armed with my new camera that Im desperately trying to learn to use,  we would start to explore and gain that same appreciation for our own country. We are trying to take ourselves off once a month to discover our gorgeous English coastline and countryside, be it for the day or a weekend. I thought I could document our exploration and it become a “thing” on my blog, like a little series.

Our mission has started.

We came across Finchingfield in Essex unintentionally. The honest explanation here is that we set off to find a nice countryside tea shop. (I will drive miles for good Victoria sponge cake I tell you) After just heading up in the general direction of North Essex, a little look on Google told us there was a tea shop,  (an award winning tea shop no less) in the village of Finchingfield.

The village is set around a little village pond, a village green, and has the most beautiful medieval church looking over it, which you approach by going through the archway of the Guildhall, built in 1500. A white 18th century windmill also adds to its picture postcard charm.

Finchingfiled is apparently, “the most photographed village in England” and is steeped in history. I wont bore you with  history lesson but if you fancy finding out more, you can do so here.

To walk off our cake we meandered through the village, delighting in all the original cottages still with names like “The Granary” and “Mill Cottage” to show the villages milling past. We visited the gorgeous 14th century church, and it really does feel like you are stepping back in time as you pass through the archway.

It always astounds me what we have undiscovered, right on our doorstep. This is literally an hours drive from where I live, yet I had never been. We plan to revisit as their is a an Elizabethan grand house in 150 acres that you can visit.

I will just leave you with some photos of this beautiful, picturesque discovery, and recommend if ever you visit Essex, its worth a visit. (the cake is pretty good too)

Id love to hear any recommendations where you think we should visit on our quest!