Here be serpents … a coastal Essex that time forgot

Our writer explores marshes, boatyards, islands and eerie stretches of the Blackwater and Colne rivers – the setting for new TV drama The Essex Serpent

The fleshy leaves of sea purslane brush our ankles as we pass a weatherboard cottage and walk the path, through the saltings, to the jetty at Alresford Creek, a waterside hamlet tucked away on the edge of the Essex coast near Colchester. An oystercatcher guards the entrance to the broken-down pier, its timbers slowly melting into the mudflats. On the far bank, a lapwing is tumbling above the marshes and a nightingale sings in the scrub. Even on this bright, spring day, it is easy to see why Alresford Creek was chosen for the filming of The Essex Serpent, a new Apple TV series starring Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes, based on Sarah Perry’s bestselling book. This place feels remote, cut off from the outside world. In 1893, when the story is set, tales of serpents winding their way through the broken boat timbers and sucking teenagers into the ooze must have felt more real to villagers than news of scientific discoveries from distant cities.

Later that day, my mum and I set out from Hythe Quay in Maldon to explore the landscape aboard the Thistle, a Thames barge built in the 1890s. The quayside is a forest of masts, towering above the many barges moored alongside. The rigging hangs like gossamer webs above us. Many of the scenes from The Essex Serpent were filmed on the quay, with locals playing the part of deckhands and dock workers. As the Thistle heads out into the Blackwater Estuary the three small boys sitting beside us go into overdrive. Their mum confesses that they had been reluctant to leave the house that morning, but now they are busy sniffing the sails for a hint of the fish oil sailors used for weatherproofing, and listening with enthusiasm to tales of smugglers and the dead revenue men found floating in Death Creek.