Tourism

Thurrock's abundance of cultivated park life provides another outdoor opportunity.
One of the things that Thurrock seems to do better than many places is the cultivated park outdoor experience. Quite why this is so is a question that remains to be answered but consider the abundant number of parks that are essential wooded walking experiences with in built diversion, the number in bother quantity and size is impressive. This week we focused on the Thames Chase park, a vast plot of semi forest that sits in the proximate area of Ockendon. As you pull up the bumpy road to its car park you see that many of the usual boxes are ticked for this kind of attraction, the modestly priced car park, attractive visitor centre complete with shop, cafe and a boundlessly friendly reception clerk - who greets you like an old friend. Here you will be pointed to the literature that is essential a map to walking around the park whilst getting the best out of it.

Thames Chase is very flat so not terribly demanding for the walker or cyclist and with the clusters of trees that start to look like forest but then quickly turn back into open path way you are essentially shielded from what's around the next corner, and here they have clearly delved to surprise as you happen upon children's play areas cleverly crafted out of the surround woodland, things that they will want to climb on for many minutes making progress some what stunted. There are even Indian teepees, carved wooden statues, and clustered of sizeable ponds all with its own wildlife population that will plink back into the water up-on your approach. Or though the A13 is, you sense, never far away you don't have that sense of being outside of a grand outback of the English sorts. Of course what makes it all the more rewarding is the cafe at the end of your walk has a sense of pricing its self sensibly as opposed to your modern Starbucks and Costas that feel a coffee and dry cake should indeed cost more than a pub meal.

Postcode: RM14 3NS
More information: thameschase.org.uk