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Copt Hall Marshes
Explore the beautiful Blackwater Estuary
Copt Hall Lane, Little Wigborough, Essex, CO5 7RD
Important notice
Our small car park at Copt Hall Marshes is open 9am-5pm during the winter. You don't need to book, but spaces are limited, so if the car park is full, please come back another time.
Opening times for 7 December 2023
Asset Opening time Countryside 09:00 - 17:00 Our carpark is small and can fill up at busy times. Please do not park on the lane or block gateways as domestic access and farm access with wide vehicles is required at all times.
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Dogs
Under close control or on leads. Please keep to the marked trails.
No toilets. Some areas may be difficult to access.
By road
Take the B1025 towards Mersea to Copt Hall Lane. Follow the lane to our small car park.
By train
Nearest train stations Colchester, Kelvedon, Witham.
By bus
50B service from Colchester stops at Copt Hall Lane
Copt Hall Lane, Little Wigborough, Essex, CO5 7RD
Highlights
Farm
Working farm on the remote Black Hall Estuary. Important area for breeding birds such as the lapwing and barn owl.
Things to see and do
Article
Explore Copt Hall Marshes
Explore Copt Hall Marshes, a wildlife-rich working farm on the Blackwater Estuary, part of the extensive Essex coastline.
Places to stay
Thorington Lodge
An cosy gate lodge on the side of a 17th-century Suffolk farmhouse.
Thorington Hall
A striking eight-bedroom farmhouse with fine historic detailing throughout.
About Copt Hall Marshes
Under leaden skies with a face full of wind there's nowhere like Copt Hall for refreshing the mind and blowing away the cobwebs.
As a working farm on the remote and beautiful Blackwater Estuary Copt Hall balances arable crop production and access with coastal nature conservation. Our work involves creating and maintaining a variety of wildlife rich habitats including nectar-rich areas for insects; field margins, scrub and hedgerows for farmland birds; and wet grassland and scrapes for waders and wildfowl.
Copt Hall is a really important area for breeding birds such as corn bunting, yellow hammer, skylark and barn owl, which have been encouraged by this work. The site is noted for overwintering wildfowl and waders including Brent geese, curlew and golden plover. These can be viewed on the fields and saltmarsh whilst enjoying a bracing walk around the farm trails and along the sea wall to our bird hide overlooking the scrapes.