ΤΟ MY MOTHER AND TO THE FONDLY CHERISHED MEMORY OF MY LOVING WIFE Though lost to sight, to memory dear Thou ever wilt remain : This only hope my beart can cbeer- PREFACE. THE TITLE of this volume so clearly expresses its purport, that, save for custom's sake, a preface is scarcely needful. The following pages contain the simple record of a delightful summer outing, a 'cruise on wheels' through the three counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The scenic and other attractions of this eastern portion of England are, I think, too little known. True, I cannot promise those who follow us in our pleasant journey either mountains or waterfalls, but all things else that go to make up the beauty of the land I can; ruined abbeys and ancient churches fraught with interest for the ecclesiologist and antiquary; romantic homes of the olden days -many of these moated stillall abounding in past memories and historic associations; old-time coaching hostelries wherein our portwine-loving forefathers made merry; old-fashioned oddly built country towns; picturesque hamlets; pleasant pastoral scenes varied by wild wind-swept heaths and gorse-sprinkled commons; and, if I can not show my readers lakes, I can introduce them to the Land of the Broads, the quiet beauties of which artists seem only recently to have discovered. The roads we found to be on the whole excellent; better indeed than we have found them elsewhere in England (the extent of ground covered being considered); moreover-an important moreover for the comfort of the driving tourist-the inns on the way are good, above the average of country inns. With so much to interest and delight us, little wonder that we most thoroughly enjoyed our expedition, and that we returned home with a very pleasant impression of the scenic and other attractions of this neglected corner of England. Of the illustrations I have only to remark that I trust they will lend an added interest to the account of our wanderings out of the beaten tourist track. I have to express my thanks to Mr. Pearson for the care he has taken in reproducing them. J. J. H. 1889. CONTENTS. The Pleasures and Advantages of Driving Tours-An Ideal Holiday-Untravelled England-Speed, the Curse of our Century-Rural Inns--The Country as seen from the Road and the Rail-‘The Highlands of Essex'—A little-visited Land-A Country of Old-time Buildings and Historic Spots -Our Programme-Highways and Byways-The Langdon PAGE A Forsaken Church-East Horndon-The resting-place of Queen Anne Boleyn's Head-Relics-Herongate-An old Coaching Inn-Chat with an Ostler-A Wayside Memorial- A Fine Sign-The Pleasures of Photography-Ingatestone- We come across a Character-Origin of the Names of Places- Guide-books at fault-The Good Woman'-An old half- timbered Hostelry-Roadside England-The Love of the Country - Boreham-A Fine Altar-tomb --- The Ancient Craftsman and the Modern Workman-An Old English Farmstead-The Farm of the Future-Cottage Gardens-- Witham--At the Sign of the White Hart-The Kindness of |