Walks you can reach from Shenfield by train

A heritage trail from the station around the historic town of Rayleigh, whose origins predate Saxon times — its name means 'a clearing of deer', it appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, and by 1222 its forests were royal hunting grounds. Takes in Rayleigh Mount and the parish church.

Walk details: Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

A circular across countryside and along part of the sea wall, returning along the banks of the River Roach to the attractive historic market town of Rochford.

Rochford

Time: 4h

Lunch: Passes a convenient pub for refreshment.

Walk details: Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Gentle valley, river stretches, country lanes, green lanes, field boundaries, rolling Essex countryside, fields and woods.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

River estuary mudflats, sea wall paths, woodland, water meadows, saltmarshes, farmland and quaint riverside villages.

Wivenhoe

Time: 4h30

Warnings: Check ferry timetable.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Wid Valley fields, riverside paths, cattle farm estate, bluebell woods, tree-lined tracks, open fields with far views and Crouch Valley finish.

Time: 5h30

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Rolling grassy fields, quiet lanes, scattered woods, reservoir nature reserve, river valley and tidal mudflats.

Time: 4h30

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

A walk across the high plateau of north-east Essex with sweeping views over the valleys of the River Colne and Roman River, passing beneath the imposing Chappel Viaduct to finish at the beautifully restored Chappel station, home of the East Anglian Railway Museum.

Chappel Viaduct

East Anglian Railway Museum

Warnings: Easy walking but can be muddy.

Walk details: Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Mildly undulating Essex countryside, ancient woods, arable fields, historic villages, old churches, manor houses and London Clay subsoil.

Time: 6h

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Entirely flat, urban city-centre streets, royal parks, riverside Thames path, canal towpath and historic financial district.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Recommended: Beautiful buildings and churches and amazing woodlands. A largely green route from central Chelmsford out through Galleywood, with clear, well-signposted paths through woodlands and farmers' fields and plus a stretch through the village of Stock. Can be combined with onward routes heading down to the coast.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 5h–9h30

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: The views from Leigh on Sea looking out to the sea are beautiful. Quiet woodlands, farm paths, horse yards and pretty residential areas and passing through a nature reserve before reaching the coast at Leigh-on-Sea. Includes a safer crossing of the A127. The route passes through a nature reserve near Hadleigh and goes past a windmill.

Time: 2h–4h

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 4h30–8h30

Walk details: Slow Ways.