Neighbourhoods in Essex

Essex covers a wide stretch of postwar new towns, historic market towns and coastline, much of it well connected into London while offering considerably lower rents. In the west of the county, towns like Harlow combine parks and community-focused planning with fast rail links to London Liverpool Street. For anyone who needs a London connection without London rents, Essex offers a practical and often overlooked option. Four Corners has homes in Harlow.

Harlow, on the Essex-Hertfordshire border, was planned by Frederick Gibberd in the late 1940s and designed around a series of distinct residential neighbourhoods, each with its own local centre, connected by green corridors, cycle paths and footways. The result is a town with more green space, more public sculpture and more considered infrastructure than most urban areas of comparable size. The Town Park and the River Stort Navigation both run through it, and Epping Forest is within easy reach to the south. Old Harlow, at the eastern edge of the town, is a village centre with a proper High Street, independent shops, pubs and restaurants that give the town character beyond its new town image. Harlow Town station on the West Anglia Mainline has frequent services to London Liverpool Street in around 30 minutes, and Cambridge in around 40 minutes going north. Stansted Airport is 15 miles away, an obvious convenience for frequent flyers. The M11 connects to the M25 and central London by road. The Newhall neighbourhood where Four Corners has homes has its own primary school, community facilities and green spaces built in from the outset.

Essex is a county that tends to improve on closer inspection, and its value for money relative to London connectivity is genuinely hard to match in the commuter belt.