Essex Weekend House Rentals

Gooseberry Fool

• 4 guests

• 2 bedrooms

Little Bentley, Colchester

Just outside the village of Little Bentley, a five-minute walk from the local pub and a ten-minute drive from Colchester, this rustic barn is nestled on a working farm. Previously a popular children's café with fun play areas both indoors and out, it's an ancient barn that retains a great deal of rustic charm.

Kooky Cabin

• 2 guests

• 1 bedrooms

Layer de la Haye, Colchester

Hidden away next to ancient woodland in rural Essex, this cabin is a British getaway that overflows with quirk and charm. Inside, classically styled furnishings, such as the tufted Chesterfield, oak dining table and the four-poster bed that's come straight out of a fairytale, rub shoulders with the eclectic animal portraits that dot the wall, the antler chandelier and antique-style gramophone — which actually works in case you're in the mood for a boogie.

Foreman's Cottage

• 5 guests

• 3 bedrooms

Heybridge Basin, Maldon

For a secluded coastal getaway just an hour away from London, they don't come much better, or more picturesque, than this stunning cottage at the mouth of the Blackwater Estuary. On one side, you've got yachts and barges passing on the sea lock and, on the other, a nature reserve that's a haven for migrating birds.