Essex lies in the south east of England and covers an area of about 1,400 square miles. It contains Epping Forest - a former royal hunting ground, the marshy coastal headland known as the Naze and London's third airport - Stansted. Essex is close to London but far enough to be away from the hustle and bustle of the City. The western part of Essex backs onto the eastern suburbs of London where it is dotted with towns along the River Thames. Essex gets its name from the Old English for land of the east Saxons. Inland Essex is a fairly flat county and has, with the exception of the odd hill like the one on which Colchester was built, very little in the way of heights. Essex's coastline is flatter still with slow flowing tidal water and shadowy mysterious bays whose shallow inlets attract many wading and shore birds. The north of the county is high exposed land with pretty villages. The Essex / Suffolk border is lush agricultural land broken up by large trees and wide farm fields. The Essex port of Harwich is a direct sea link with Holland and the rest of Europe. Other places of interest to the tourist in Essex are Chelmsford, the resorts of Clacton and Southend-on-Sea and Colchester, the Roman Camulodunum. Colchester was the earliest recorded Roman town in England and is still a garrison town. It was attacked by Boadicea, or Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribe of East Anglia in their revolt against the Romans. Some speculate that Camulodunum gave rise to the Arthurian legend of Camelot.
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