About Mersea Island
West Mersea overlooks the the Blackwater Estuary and it’s where you go for walking, bike rides, playing on the beach, swimming, fishing and sailing.
Mersea has been supplying oysters and sea food for millenia – their oysters were so good they were shipped back to Rome two thousand years ago.
Getting there
Mersea Island is a dozen miles to the south of Colchester at the end of the B1025. If you’re coming from the South and East of the country, avoid the main roads and come by the B1026 and Peldon. Mersea Island is accessible only by a single causeway – The Strood, which occasionally becomes accessible due to a very high tide! Once over the Strood you can turn left for East Mersea, and right for West Mersea.
You could put your bikes on the back of your car, park in East Mersea at Cudmore Grove and cycle to West Mersea and back as we did a couple of years ago.
Out and About
There’s a children’s playground near a stretch of beach with some very photogenic beach huts on Victoria Esplanade, near to the Seaview Holiday Park – a good place to head for if you have very little ones.
If you want some scenic views and want to stretch your legs, we would recommend parking on the High Street or in the car park at the back of the library (CO5 8QA). If you need refreshment straight away, try the Art Cafe. Walk along the coast road, and you’ll have great views of the Blackwater and the various vessels moored up, and those that are there permanently. As you walk further into the town, you will pass a couple of seafood cafes, the West Mersea Oyster Bar first, then the famous Company Shed, as the Blackwater gives way to The Strood. There are a couple of pubs we can recommend, but not that much choice in terms of cafes. There are public toilets at the far end of Coast Road.
Keep on walking, and you’ve got the option of a short off-road walk that we can recommend.