Heathrow Airport 1 hr 14
Weald Country Park (20 min)
Historic 500-acre park with a visitor centre, cafe & paths, plus fallow deer & a shop selling feed. Old Leigh Studios Gallery (24 min) Old MacDonald's Farm & Fun Park (23 min)
Small, homespun farm with the usual zoo suspects, plus alpacas, wallabies and owls, and kids' rides. Thorndon Country Park (19 min)
Trails through a landscape of ancient oak trees, marshes & meadows, with birdlife & grazing cattle. Bell Wharf Beach (26 min) Barleylands Farm Park (7 min)
Family-friendly attraction featuring farm animals, craft workshops, rides, play areas & more. Tilbury Fort (20 min)
Riverside fort built to protect London, with bastions, moats and a magazine house, plus a gift shop. Chalkwell Beach (20 min)
Pebble & sand beach with a large granite obelisk from the 1800s & a promenade with snack kiosks. Adventure Island (32 min)
Free-admission fun park with more than 40 rides and attractions from rollercoasters to ghost trains. RSPB Rainham Marshes (25 min)
Bird-rich former marshland firing range with accessible boardwalks and a modern visitor centre. The Historic Dockyard Chatham (43 min)
Historic Royal Navy warships and shipbuilding heritage in an 18th-century dockyard museum. Hanningfield Reservoir (28 min)
870-acre reservoir with diverse flora & fauna, seasonal fly fishing & paths, plus on-site cafes. Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker (29 min)
Large underground bunker with self-guided tours, a Cold War history museum, canteen & ropes course. Southend Pier and Railway (32 min)
Seasonal museum on the pier with 19th- & early-20th-century train cars, slot machines & costumes. Dickens World (44 min)
State-of-the-art animatronics, a 4D cinema and Victorian recreations expand on the work of Dickens. | 
