A day of great expectations
When the BBC wanted a dark and mysterious setting for Great Expectations, it chose Tollesbury Wick Marshes. When ITV needed a shadowy and disorientating backdrop for the thriller Liar, it too chose Tollesbury. In Apple TV’s Essex Serpent, Tom Hiddleston walked through smoke with blood on his face against the backdrop of... yes, you’ve guessed it.
There’s something about this coastal corner of Essex that directors obviously love. Infinite skies meet limitless seas. Apparently endless marshes blend into the huge fields of dark plough. Frets and sea mists abound. You can see why it works so well as a setting for fiction.
No one could be a better-qualified guide to this evocative area than Clive Houlding. As secretary of the local wildfowling club, he was influential in securing the purchase of 80 acres of
