Bed and breakfast availability
Harwich b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Harwich and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Harwich, Essex, is placed where the River Orwell (from Ipswich) and the River Stour (from Manningtree) join to enter the North Sea and is protected by the peninsula which stretches south from Felixstowe. On this small wedge of land old Harwich grew up, a tightly planned medieval town with one of the earliest lighthouses in Britain, and the Church of St Nicholas added in later centuries. The church, dating from 1821, is of yellow brick with a tall tower and spire visible from far at sea. Inside is a Purbeck marble font and a painting of Moses giving the Commandments (early 18^th-century.). The tall lighthouse, built of white brick, dates from 1818.

Another notable building is the Guildhall of 1769 built of red brick with a surprising Gothic doorway. The Low Lighthouse, painted on more than one occasion by John Constable, has the look of some Eastern pagoda, while there is an odd reminder of the discipline of earlier days in the Naval Treadmill Crane, south of the church. The Town Hall was originally built as the Great Eastern Hotel in 1864; other hotels of note are the Pier, the Angel and the Three Cups.

Parkeston, where the Continental ferries tie up, lies round the bay on the north side of the peninsula; Dovercourt is on the south side facing out across Mill Bay, 106 miles from the Hook of Holland and 90 miles from Flushing. Like many of the East Anglian coastal resorts it was developed in the l850s, when the local M.P., Mr John Bagshaw, decided to promote it as a seaside resort. Along the front with its sandy beach stretches the Marine Parade, and behind it the main road runs to Ipswich and Colchester. There is an Under-cliff walk and all the usual amenities of a successful holiday resort. The two lighthouses by the pier date from 1862. The parish church is All Saints, with a Norman nave and a chancel of the 14^th century. The west tower is Perpendicular and battlemented.

From such seafaring places local men have set off on many expeditions. Christopher Newport sailed with Raleigh, Christopher Jones with the Mayflower of which he was the master, and here, too, in the Three Cups Lord Nelson stayed. Captain Fryatt, who operated out of Harwich during the First World War, is commemorated in an impressive memorial.

Nearby towns: Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea, Ipswich, Felixstowe, Manningtree, Walton on the Naze

Nearby villages: Bawdsey, Bradfield, Bucklesham, Chelmondiston, Dovercourt, Falkenham, Freston, Frinton-on-Sea, Great Holland, Great Oakley, Harkstead, Hemley, Kirby Cross, Levington, Little Oakley, Nacton, Newbourn, Parkeston, Ramsey, Ramsholt, Shotley, Stutton, Thorpe le Soken, Trimley St Mary, Weeley, Wherstead, Wix, Woolverstone, Wrabness

Have you decided to visit Harwich or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Harwich bed and breakfast (a Harwich B&B or Harwich b and b)
• a Harwich guesthouse
• a Harwich hotel (or motel)
• a Harwich self-catering establishment, or
• other Harwich accommodation