The stunning Essex coastal walk full of history that ends in a good pub

We're now approaching the winds of winter, with the nights drawing in and the temperatures dropping. Despite this, many people still love a good winter walk among nature before entering the cosy embrace of a good Essex pub.

Essex has no shortage of wilderness to explore, coastal paths to follow, and parks to get lost in - with the Dengie peninsula being a vast countryside to delve into. For this particular walk, we'll focus on the village of Bradwell-on-Sea and the surrounding coastline, which offers many rewards for ramblers.

The Bradwell waterside route, known as the Bradwell Shell Bank Loop or simply the "Bradwell Circular," is an easy-to-intermediate walking route that stretches for around 6.5 miles—or 10.6 kilometres. The total ascent for the walk is around 30 metres, and it will take travellers anywhere between 2.5 and 3.5 hours to walk the total loop.

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The walk explores a section of countryside and coast, allowing people to visit one of the oldest churches in England, the isolated seventh-century chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall. The chapel is over a millennium old and was first built in Roman times.

During that period, the area surrounding the chapel was the defensive fort of Othona. After the fall of the Roman Empire the fort became a village that a missionary called Cedd came to in 653AD. Cedd built the chapel dedicated to St Peter across the west wall of the old Roman fort using the stones and tiles from the fort remains. A lot of the buildings you see today are exactly the same as it was when it was built over a thousand years ago.

However, during Elizabethan times, the Chapel fell into disuse and was used as a barn, probably housing animals, grain and carts. If you look carefully at the walls, you can spot where the farmer removed some of the wall to get his carts in. Visitors are welcome to enter the chapel to find out more or just to sit for a while.

As detailed by Walking Britain, the full walk includes Bradwell Waterside with its yachts and small boats, the Blackwater Estuary, and the Dengle National Nature Reserve with its wide variety of bird life in season. The start is the Dengle National Nature Reserve car park on East End Road, about three kilometres east of the church in Bradwell-on-Sea.

After parking, return along East End Road and continue ahead to the road junction into the attractive village of Bradwell, with the parish church on your right and the King's Head pub opposite. Turn right into High Street and continue out of the village. Using the grass verge, continue ahead at the first junction past Down Hall on your right to reach a second junction.

Walking Britain said: "Cross straight over to join a gravel track with an adjacent finger post. The path maintains a diagonal direction across several fields to exit onto Waterside Road in Bradwell Waterside. Bear right and pass Green Man Inn on your right and continue towards the sea. Just before the Yacht Club on the left, turn right onto a narrow path with adjacent finger post."

The path from this point covers the estuary shore, where the River Blackwater enters the North Sea. The first thing you will spot is the Bradwell Nuclear Power Station before an easy-terrain walk around the coast until St Peter-on-the-Wall chapel comes into view.

Before passing the chapel and heading back down the once-Roman road to the car park, people can also check out views of the Bradwell Shell Bank Nature Reserve. Years of tidal currents have formed this "special" shell bank of cockle and oyster shells, which surrounds an extensive salt marsh, home to thousands of wintering birds.

Depending on where you start this walk, you can begin and end the route at the King's Head in Bradwell-on-Sea or pop in there after finishing at the car park, as you will pass it on your way home. The pub has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from more than 250 Google reviews and serves a mix of "classic pub fare and innovative dishes that showcase the best of local and seasonal ingredients" with daily specials.