Despite being England’s smallest town, Manningtree is home to its own train station, which has direct links to London Liverpool Street Station. Meanwhile, a House For Essex lies on the outskirts of Wrabness – a nearby village.

Located on High Street, the pub has been praised by visitors and has a 4.4/5 star rating from over 1,000 reviews. Make sure to overindulge at Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms where a glass of pink champagne and a huge scone are almost compulsory.FOR the last few years, my annual trip to Harrogate has been an immovable fixture in my calendar.Warm up at The Swan Hotel, which has its cosy Weavers Spa onsite.

Other pubs include the Skinners Arms and Estuary, a wine and tapas bar. Head to The Harrogate Spa at the DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel if you’d like a pamper, which is a personal favourite of mine.Robin Hood’s Bay, Sophie Swietochowski, Assistant Travel Editor As someone who’s been going to the festival for the last three years, I personally think it should be called the Glastonbury of book festivals with previous headliners including household names like Richard Osman, Lee Child, Kathy Reichs, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

But despite its small size, Manningtree is home to a host of pubs like the Red Lion, an award-winning pub which is the oldest in the town.Aside from curling up in front of a roaring pub fire, in colder months visitors can stroll the rows of higgledy-piggledy boutiques and cafes dishing up wedges of homemade cakes piled high with buttercream.

Alternatively, there’s also The Crown Pub and Hotel, which boasts views of the River Stour from its beer garden. Even though Manningtree isn’t technically on the coast, it does have its own beach that’s safe for swimming. The porticoed towers used to stand at either end of a Georgian church. Trains take under an hour, with Sun Online Travel finding one-way tickets from £16 for a full-paying adult. Several famous faces even hail from the Essex town, including former PM Margaret Thatcher, and Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General, whose ghost reportedly haunts the local area.Punters are instead welcome to bring their own food with them.

Manningtree is a 45-minute drive from Chelmsford and it’s also a three-hour drive from London.ONE of my favourite villages I’ve ever visited in England is Lavenham, which is beautiful in autumn.Perched atop a craggy cliff, overlooking a dinky shore, Robin Hood’s Bay seems like something from a fiction tale or a North Yorkshire postcard.Nearby, there are a couple of other attractions like the Mistley Towers. The Victorian spa town is the perfect place for a little bit of R&R thanks to its history of spa tourism, which is very much alive.I prefer the village in winter, though, when the weather takes a turn and nature comes alive with the grassy dunes dancing in the wind and moody waves thrashing on the rocks.When it comes to population size, it is beaten by Fordwich in Kent to the title of smallest town.

Designed by Grayson Perry, the house, which can be rented out for overnight stays, is a shrine to Julie Cope – a fictional character invented by the artist. While the church isn’t there anymore, the towers are managed by English Heritage with visitors able to explore the interior.