Popular Villages You Could Move to in the Chelmsford Area

If you want to enjoy the advantages of rural living but don’t want to be too far from a big city, then a move to a village near Chelmsford represents the ideal solution.

Not only would you be close to close to one of the UK’s newest cities, but you would also be within easy reach of London, thanks to a regular rail service and the A12. If you are thinking about removals to Chelmsford, here are six of the attractive options which offer the perfect combination of countryside and city life.

Danbury

Not many villages can boast their own palace, but this parish can. Formerly called Danbury Place, the current building was constructed in the 1830s and, after it was sold to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and became the home of the Bishop of Rochester, it added the extra ‘a’ and became a palace. It is now part of Anglia Ruskin University, and is also used for weddings and conferences. The building is set in a wooded park, which houses both Danbury Park School and a country park which attracts thousands of visitors every year.

The village, which is six miles from Chelmsford, has a full range of facilities. There are plenty of shops, five pubs and a medical centre.

Great Totham

Great Totham, which is north-east of Chelmsford, is a very large parish which is effectively split into two parts and includes the Island of Osea in the Blackwater estuary to the south.Â

The village can be dated back to Norman times, thanks to the parish’s St Peter’s Church. The village school, where former England cricket captain Alastair Cook was once a pupil, is thriving. It outgrew its original site and now has 14 classes.  The parish has are three pubs and a general store incorporating a post office.

Hatfield Peverel

The village, which is around six miles from Chelmsford via the A12, derives part of its name and priory from the Saxon woman Ingelrica. Believed to have been the former mistress of William the Conqueror, when he tired of her she was married off to one of the king’s knights, Ranulph Peverel.

These days, the village has a junior and an infant school, plus flourishing Scout and Guide groups. There is also a library, Post Office, and doctor's and dentist’s surgeries. There are six public houses, a farm shop and several other retail outlets.

Stock

This village’s full name is actually Stock Harvard, but the ‘harvard’ – which refers to the Anglo Saxon stewardship of a forest in the area – has now largely been dropped, although it lives on in the name of a hotel-bar-restaurant in the village.  There are also three pubs in the parish, plus another two on the outskirts, plus a post office and general store.  The village has three churches – Catholic, Free and Anglican, the last of which is affiliated to the parish’s primary school. As the village is situated on a hill, it boasts some delightful views over the surrounding Essex countryside to the south of Chelmsford.

Wickham Bishops

The first mention of this village, which is around 12 miles north-east of Chelmsford, comes in the 1086 Domesday Book. The first part of the name refers to ‘Wicham’, which means 'dwelling place with dairy farm'; the second part is a reference to the fact that the land once belonged to the Bishop of London.
The 2,000-plus population village has an early 19th century church with a modern function hall, plus a village hall and a playing field, a garage, two pubs, a library and a store with a sub-post office.

Writtle

Although there is evidence of a Roman presence on the site of this village, which is 1km west of Chelmsford, its historical fame is rather more recent. One of the first wireless telephone broadcasts were made from an experimental Marconi station in a prefabricated hut in the village in the 1920s. It has since been rebuilt at the nearby Sandford Mill Museum in Sandon.

Writtle also has a renowned university college which specialised in agricultural courses and landscape garden design. The village has a historic centre with timbered houses around a triangular ‘green’ complete with duck pond and churches.  It has all the facilities of a modern village – plenty of places to eat and drink and a number of thriving organisations, from sports clubs to bellringing societies and Scout and Brownie groups, making it a popular choice for removals to Chelmsford.

If you are looking for first-class service from a removals company in the Chelmsford area, then Greens Removals should be your first port of call. Our expert staff can also advise you about moves to the rest of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and across the UK, plus a range of international destinations, with our services all tailored to fit your individual needs. Click on the link for a free quote and to find out more about our services.

Essex Removals Chelmsford | A Guide to Tollesbury