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**backofbeyond** · #1 18 Jan 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkabout

It is the English county of Essex which has no motorways (or so my relatives claim), but enough dual carriageways to get to London OK.

The M11 went through at least a part of it (the part I used to live in as a child) when I was over there a couple of weeks ago

I must admit it never even occurred to me that Hay on Wye would be too far for people from the north to travel to. You'll need something to drag them down, a USP for the meeting. Do they have a Starbucks there? If not, can you get a pop up one just for the weekend.

**Walkabout** · #2 18 Jan 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

The M11 went through at least a part of it (the part I used to live in as a child) when I was over there a couple of weeks ago

.

For a real Essex girl, from the swamplands of the estuaries, that is the far side of the Moon.

I did qualify my post with the "claim of relatives" piece and I have never bothered to check where exactly the county boundaries just to the north of the Queen Elizabeth bridge (M25) are, if only because that neck of the woods gives every appearance of belonging to the estuarial fringes of the Thames, downstream of the flood barrier.
ie it is treated as being "disposable".

**backofbeyond** · #3 18 Jan 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkabout

For a real Essex girl, from the swamplands of the estuaries, that is the far side of the Moon.

I did qualify my post with the "claim of relatives" piece and I have never bothered to check where exactly the county boundaries just to the north of the Queen Elizabeth bridge (M25) are, if only because that neck of the woods gives every appearance of belonging to the estuarial fringes of the Thames downstream of the flood barrier
ie it is treated as being "disposable".

Oh, and the M25 as well

You're right though - "real" Essex isn't the East End overspill that became Harlow and Basildon in the 60's (and who are now finding the East End missing them so much it's expanding out to find them), it's further east - the mudflats and estuaries, "Sarfend" to Clacton etc.

The bit we lived in though, on the western fringes, wasn't far from the edges of London but it was particularly rural at the time and between about 8 and 15yrs old I had a childhood on a farm there that could have been straight out of the 19thC. These days the whole area is an enclave, surrounded by the M25 to the south, Harlow to the north east and the Lea Valley strip development to the west, all of them nibbling away at the edges year by year.

**Walkabout** · #4 18 Jan 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

Oh, and the M25 as well

You're right though - "real" Essex isn't the East End overspill that became Harlow and Basildon in the 60's (and who are now finding the East End missing them so much it's expanding out to find them), it's further east - the mudflats and estuaries, "Sarfend" to Clacton etc.

The bit we lived in though, on the western fringes, wasn't far from the edges of London but it was particularly rural at the time and between about 8 and 15yrs old I had a childhood on a farm there that could have been straight out of the 19thC. These days the whole area is an enclave, surrounded by the M25 to the south, Harlow to the north east and the Lea Valley strip development to the west, all of them nibbling away at the edges year by year.

No cause for concern.
The great myth of urban Britain - BBC News

Or,
What percentage of land in England has buildings on? – Kgb Answers

Or,
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/new...ales-37204.php

And,
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...n_4254512.html