Brentwood is a large sprawling town on the edge of what is known as "Greater London". Brentwood is a very deceptive town, in respect of size. On first arrival it's easy to believe that it's a small area, but it's an enormous location split up into different districts Ingatestone, Shenfield, North Wield, South Wield, Hutton, Ingrave, Herongate and Little Warley. A very green area with plenty of woodland Brentwood is just a miniscule 20 minutes away from central London by rail.
My previous two location reports have been quite thorough in respect guiding your way through them. Brentwood is far too large so I have made this a much more simplistic read.
SHOPPING
Brentwood's shopping area consists mainly of one long street not surprisingly called "The High Street" this is just over a third of a mile in length and features a variety of stores. Brentwood is not necessarily somewhere you would go to shop unless you lived on the outskirts, simply because it's very reminiscent of most high streets in the United Kingdom. It's a typical store mix Boots, Superdrug, Thorntons, WHSMITH's, Argos, Monsoon, Iceland, Next etc. However for anyone living in the area it's pretty handy not to have to leave a pretty rural location in order to find things you need. At the heart of the high street is a two level Marks & Spencer's store. Behind this you have a rather busy Sainsbury's, this doubles up as an unofficial skateboard park after 9pm. There is a shopping centre in Brentwood, which is fairly small but upon my last visit still being under construction. It had previously been known as The Brentwood Arcade, or something similar, but it was quite a pointless location, in need of some serious updating. In 2003 work began on rectifying this turning into a two level shopping centre featuring a massive gymnasium and office and residential space. Some of Brentwood's shopping finds lay up back streets within the town, from a grand piano shop, to art galleries and exclusive boutiques. People who want to do some serious shopping tend to use the nearby Towns of Romford and Chelmsford, both of which offer substantially more than Brentwood.
SOCIAL LIFE
In respect of socialising Brentwood has a fair bit to offer, the high street has 8 pubs on it, most of which are part of chains i.e. The Slug & Lettuce and The Litton Tree. The more individual pubs are not quite as memorable, though still very nice to drink in. All offer a great variety of food, The Litton Tree offers some great meal deals where often if in a party of 3 or 4 one can eat for free. The Litton tree is also probably the central meeting spot, land here on a Friday or Saturday night and you'll be lucky to get standing room let alone a seat. Off the high street you have Sam's Nightclub, the only club in Brentwood. The area that surrounds Sam's is being redeveloped into a shopping arcade and office premises, with Sam's moving back further away from the residential area and having a new state of the art purpose built development. To cope with the increase in Brentwood's popularity Sam's is going to be given an exclusive new look with themed floors and VIP areas.
For eating as well as the pubs you have a few swanky looking restaurants both on and running parallel to the high street. These cater for every taste from Chinese, to Indian, Italian, British, Korean, Irish and French; as well as exclusive trend eateries such as Fish, Pasta or Pizza. In respect of chain based eateries you have
Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King. For the best eating though slip off the main areas and land yourself in more rural locations, there are some marvellous pubs/restaurants. At Shenfield common sits a rather delightful Italian Restaurant (with an ever changing name), having enjoyed a meal here you can cross over to the common for a walk or to sit by the pond.
EMPLOYMENT
Employment opportunities in Brentwood are very high; in 2000 the level of unemployed in the town became so low that the Job Centre closed its office. There is a good mix of Office, Government, and Industrial, Catering, Education, Health Care, and Retail work available in the town, with more vacancies than people to fill them; a search on the job centre website this morning reveals 211 vacancies in Brentwood. At the far south of town are massive office complexes that include many insurance head offices, and of course British Telecoms main English office.
RESIDENTIAL
Believe it or not, all property in Brentwood is privately owned with the exception of a few Housing Association houses built since 2000. There has never been a council presence in Brentwood, hardly surprising though where 3 or 4 miles down the road you're at towns that contain 95% Local Authority housing. An average two bedroom property in Brentwood will cost between £170K-£200K to buy and rental for the same size property can vary from £650-£800 per month. Property in Brentwood is in short supply in respect of Rental, making this a paradise for investment purchasers. Although £200k may seem like a hefty sum for a basic house the desirability of Brentwood means that unscrupulous buy to let investors can pretty much command a price for their property. All property in Brentwood is semi rural as I'll explain later; you are never too far from a green area.
COMMUTER LINKS
This is exceptional, one train every 5-10 minutes Monday to Friday, with trains every 20 minutes on a Saturday and Sunday heading into and from London. There is seldom a delay entering London from Brentwood as the train's start just 4 minutes down the road in a suburb of Brentwood known as Shenfield. This route into London takes you through the following more known area's Harold Wood, Gidea Park, Romford, Seven Kings, Ilford, Stratford. Heading away from London you can join connecting trains at Shenfield taking you to Billericay, Southend, Chelmsford, Braintree, Colchester, and Clacton.
Buses are fairly reliable taking you to most of the destinations listed in the above rail guide. However more often than not you'll find yourself changing two or three times, the bus services are more expensive than the rail links too.
GREEN AREA
There are plenty of green areas around Brentwood, and all are dog friendly. I have split these up into the different areas and provided directions from the town centre; every one of these areas is an absolute joy to behold.
Merrymead Park
From the centre of the high street WHSMITH to be precise, head along the road in the direction of Marks and Spencer's. Continue along the same direction past Game, and Pizza Express. Eventually you'll find a railing that prevents people from walking out into a busy road. Take a left here heading down to what is known as the Take Away district, you can cross over the road at any point along here that you feel it's safe to. Continue down this road, passed Sainsbury's and passed Travis Perkins. Shortly after Travis Perkins take a right turn, follow this road as far as it will go then cross it and take a left; you're at the entrance of Merrymead Park.
Merrymead Park is a relatively small area of field and woodland, around 1 and a half miles in radius. However it has some lovely areas; fields to sit in and soak up the sun, a woodland area, streams and areas of rough ground. There are probably 100 different variations in the way you can go around Merrymead, but make sure you always visit the woodland area; the squirrels here are so friendly they will come and sit on you. During the spring, the woodland is an abundance of bluebells which makes for a visually stunning site. In the grounds of Merrymead Park, is an old country house and grounds this is now used as an area for training police dogs, but last year was used for filming the BBC's Bleak House.
Shenfield Common
From WHSMITH cross over the road and take a left turn passed Thornton's and Argos, keep going in fact until you find the same stretch of busy road encountered on the way to Merrymead Park. Turn right this time, heading down passed the Cathedral (Yes Brentwood has a Cathedral, although I can't talk about it as I never went in! religion and I don't see eye to eye), continue down passed the town hall opposite the Toby Inn (this is a great place to stop for dinner if hungry). Straight ahead of you you'll see a green area, containing a pond. You're on Shenfield Common.
The Pond on the common is fairly small, but popular with dogs, it's a great place to throw sticks for your dogs to collect, and they never seem to tire as the water is not deep enough for them to sink (unless they are very small) or that they have to exert themselves to much. Surrounding the pond is a green; people sit here in the summer picnicking and reading books. It's a calming area only a few minutes away from the town centre. Off the green area is a piece of dense woodland, this splits off into different areas, but if you follow in a straight line, then follow the path round you will see all of it. It's not the most interesting area, but it's a nice change.
Hartswood
Now if you have followed the above journey, Hartswood is only a short distance on, if you followed the path round Shenfield common this will bring you onto a small hill, walk down this and you're on Hartswood Road. Proceed down Hartswood road by taking a left at the bottom of the hill. You'll pass by some great residential property that you'd just love to live in. You should regardless of what day it is be able to hear the faint squeals of children. On your left you'll see the entrance to a park, don't cross over stay where you are and after a short distance you'll see a public footpath sign pointing into woodland, cross over and your now in Hartswood.
Hartswood is a pretty large area which consists of pathways through woodland. This area is very popular for joggers, and cyclists so be careful during your walk through. Hartswood will take you easily an hour to walk through even if you know where your going, but should be enjoyed, plenty of wildlife from dragonflies to foxes and squirrels live here. The foxes are surprisingly tame, I'm not encouraging you to stroke one but they will get close to you and won't seem bothered by you. If you have food they may well sit by you like a loyal dog. Although the fox's natural instinct is to kill, the locals living around the park have fed the foxes for decades, and as a result they have become pretty tame. There is some pretty "Blair Witch" style scenery in the woods, but fear not your never alone there, you can always see
Pictures of Brentwood
Deer In The Park
someone in their with you.
Thorndon Country Park
By far my favourite of all the parks of Brentwood, you can reach Thorndon by simply following my directions for Shenfield Common, and through Hartwood. Once you reach as far as you can go through Hartwood you meet a road, all you need to do to get into Thorndon is cross the road.
Thorndon is by far the biggest area of greenery in Brentwood, it is managed by Essex council, and features lakes, ponds woodland area, barren land, and a variety of animal life from wildlife to enclosed farm creatures. A day within Thorndon is by no means enough, we visited on 11 different occasions in close succession and each time spent at least half a day viewing a different area. If you forgot to bring food don't panic, there are the odd area's that you can acquire food from. From the central reception area you can arrange for a guided tour, and you can also arrange for a tour taking kids to look at the different captive animals; should you want to gets some peace from them that is. This park really is a paradise it's just amazing to know that you're so close to London, but have all this beauty in one place. One Sunday we walked further than we had before, through a large barren area, past a giant fishing lake back into woodland area, past the woodland was a giant hill which we began to climb. When it comes to certain cultures I'm a little naïve, but we suddenly noticed a large crown of people in what appeared to be (to me anyway) Indian attire, as we got closer they invited us and our dogs to join them for dinner. We declined as our dogs are greedy creatures, but as we continued on we found not hundreds but possibly thousands of people in this giant picnic area. Apparently every Sunday communities travel from all across London to the site to gather in a peaceful tranquil area and enjoy a little family time. Everyone seemed to be there, every culture seemed to be represented from French, to German and Asian. It was a really refreshing experience that seemed free of any racial prejudice. As we made our way through at least three families asked us to join them. One of my dogs was given a giant shrimp by what I believe was a Turkish family.
The Park reflects the years changes well, and seems to have an all year round greenery too it, as if every plant was specially selected to keep the feel of the park the same. I really did love this Park, and is without a doubt the thing I miss most about Brentwood.
Wield Country Park
To access Wield Park, you need to turn right back at WHSMITH, follow down the road down until you take a right turn. This should indicate the road to be called Tower Hill, walk down Tower Hill and you find yourself on Wield Road. This is quite a long walk, about 30 minutes walk down what appears to be country lane. Halfway along Wield road you'll find the appropriately called Halfway House Farm. After another piece of long road you'll come onto a T junction, at this point you'll see a house turn left just before the house and you'll be on Sandpit Lane. You can also carry on down the road to exit the Park, but to see it at its most breathtaking I recommend the Sandpit Lane route. A word of warning, the house I mentioned in question is the Marsh Home, this is where the notorious Jodie Marsh lives and frequently cars speed in and out of this location without any warning. Having walked along Sandpit Lane for about 5 minutes you'll see the entrance to the Park.
As you enter the park, you have to travel down a quite steep slope, but the views here are breathtaking. All you can see for miles around is Parkland, there are various benches along this top part to allow you top saver the views. The walk consists of woodland, there is an amazing French Farmhouse just off centre, yes I did say French; you can pick up traditional French produce here. Just off the farmhouse is miles of Canadian Pine Trees, and they are by far the biggest trees I have ever seen in this country. Its here that you will probably sight your first Deer, these roam free throughout the grounds of the Park, so please show consideration if you have dogs. Sitting directly in the centre of Wield Park is South Wield Lake; this is lovely to walk around, although that task will take over an hour and a half. Again there is somewhere to get food, so no fears about starving. There are a variety of themed events taking place here throughout the year from Halloween Scaretaculars to treasure hunts.
CRIME
Crime in Brentwood is terribly low; I never saw one single act of anti social behaviour in the time I lived there, even on heavy nights out in and around the town. The children seem better behaved than anywhere I have ever lived, and seem genuinely respectful of their elders. During my two years in Brentwood, there was one Murder this was actually to do with someone who was dealing drugs and on community service in Brentwood but living in Forest Gate. There were also a handful of violent crimes and Burglaries reported. www.upmystreet.com reports that the crime levels in Brentwood are one of the lowest in the UK.
HOTELS
Hotels seem in rather short supply within Brentwood, there is a Holiday Inn and a couple of Bed & Breakfasts near the train station, but that's about it. The Bed & Breakfasts tend to cost around £24-£35 per night, the Holiday Inn offers typically Holiday Inn prices from £65 per night upwards.
OTHER
There are some areas that I never visited that I felt deserved a mention:-
Mountnessing sits on the edge of Brentwood and has pubs and bars and beautiful scenery.
Old McDonalds Farm is a city farm for kids to go and visit.
At Kelvedon Hatch is a Security Bunker, now turned into a tourist attraction, this is possibly where Maggie Thatcher would have gone should Nuclear war become inevitable.
The Penial Church people come from not only the UK but from across the world to visit this church. The people that visit it say "I HAVE SEEN MIRACLES!!!"
FAMOUS FACES
The Following Celebrities lived or do live in Brentwood most of who do still reside there:
Tara Fitzgerald Fatima Whitbread Frank Bruno Jack Straw Ross Kemp Jodie Marsh (oops I said famous) Steve Davis Martine McCutheon Griff Rhys Jones Douglas Adams Billie Murray (Johnny Allen from Eastenders) Trevor Brooking Graham Gooch Jimmy Greaves Katie Hill Selina Scott Teddy Sheringham
THE DOWNSIDE OF BRENTWOOD
The downside of Brentwood is that it's possibly the most fashion affected town in Essex, everyone has to keep up with the latest fashions like there lives depend on it. It's a common site to see people looking you up and down to access the labels you where. On the plus side anyone whose life is dominated by fashion, should pop here to check out the latest style so they beat everyone else to it. The other thing that I never noticed, but my partner did is an element of snobbery, apparently people are quite judging here, however I personally believe that's down to the people you pick as your friends. I mainly hung out with staff from the Post Office and all were lovely.
And one final mention, by now we are all familiar with THE APPRENTICE, well while trying to look like its in a swanky London location, Alan Sugars office is basically a red brick building here, just next to the train station. So don't let all those sky scrapers fool you. (See image below)
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