Tendring is the night

Just spent an enjoyable couple of days in Clacton-on-Sea on the Tendring Peninsula. Our youngest daughter loved the pier with its helter skelter and grabbing machines and two pence cascades. Great fish and chips too at Geo's and a lovely B&B at the Chudleigh, where Carol and Peter were very friendly hosts. Clacton also has Martello Towers from the Napoloeonic wars. A mile down the coast is the old 'plotlands' settlement of Jaywick Sands which has superb beaches but is the most deprived region in the UK according to a 2011 government report, with bungalows going for just fifty grand. Northwards is Frinton, which is so posh it only got a pub in 2000 and has a bookshop and gallery where they discuss border terriers and literature, delis, chic kitchenware shops, Zen Art Ltd and an excellent foodie cafe in the Hat and Mouse.

You can reach both Clacton and Frinton in less than two hours by train from Liverpool Street and the wide beaches of this Essex hinterland suggest it's a much undervalued resource. There's another pier at Walton-on-the-Naze, great views across the landscape to the weird cranescape of Harwich and generally a bit of something for everyone on the Tendring Peninsula, aka the "Essex Sunshine Coast", including an offshore wind farm. Though this being Britain on a bank holiday, it did rain most of the time…