Mersea Island chosen as one of Sunday Times' best places to live

In Sunday’s edition of the national paper, Tim Palmer – one of the main judges behind the Sunday Times’ best place to live guide – wrote "there’s a laid-back, holiday feel here that you don’t expect to find within an hour’s drive of the M25."

And so it was that Mersea Island was heralded as one of Britain’s most attractive coastal spots alongside Felixstowe, Folkestone, Penzance, West Kirby, and a host of other names along the nation’s shoreline.

It is not the first time Mersea or its pubs have featured in The Times, either.

Beautiful - Mersea Island from above (Image: Newsquest)

In 2020, CO5 was chosen as one of the best places to live in the UK, and last year the same publication gave a glowing review of the island’s White Hart Inn.

According to John Akker, a lifelong Mersea resident and former town councillor until earlier this year, the island’s desirability had been a well-kept secret – but in recent years, knowledge of its attractiveness has become more widespread.

He said: "It used to be undiscovered – people came, they visited, they liked it, and they retired here.

"In modern times, with different kinds of arrangements about working, people can now live on Mersea and commute to London one or two days per week – that was unheard of in the past.

"People did it, but it was quite a thing."

Resident - John Akker, a former councillor who has lived in Mersea his entire life said the island’s desirability had been a well-kept secret (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Akker added there are positives and negatives to Mersea Island’s increasing notoriety as one of Britain’s best places to live and visit.

"It’s reassuring that some of the really good eateries are being recognised and pointed to," he added. 

"The downside, as far as locals are concerned, is the more visitors who come, the more Mersea becomes discovered and there’s a danger of spoiling the very place which people come to see.

"But what I love about Mersea is it combines the old and the new – it has a phenomenal cultural tradition of old families who have been here for generations."