Wat Tyler Centre — Attraction in Basildon

I love coming to Wat Tyler, always a lovely few hours spent walking, some lovely views, and varies from open pasture, to wooded areas, to hilly parts. The playground has been rebuilt, and has more things for the smaller kids, as well as a couple of disability-accessible pieces of equipment.. The cafe has recently reopened, and is fairly reasonably priced, with a pretty good selection of snacks, outside in the Dutch Barn is a kiosk that sells snacks, hot and cold drinks, hot and cold food, ice creams, sweets, and again, is very reasonably priced. For the most part, it is very dog friendly, and most - not all - owners control their dogs, and those that aren't on the lead get out on if you approach with a dog too. Plenty of waste bins, and a few places for your dog to get some fresh water. There is a smallish picnic area, and when the area is nice it generally has plenty of people having food, either sat on the tables/benches, or just throwing a blanket on the grass... Obviously this is weather and seasonal dependant.

All in all, its a lovely place to visit, with winding paths through various environments, good for Bird Watchers over the local marsh, a great place to run the kids ragged, and has the historical side of the ammunition factory that once inhabited the...

I used to love going here. But i went yesterday with my daughter to meet my brother and sister to celebrate my daughters 8th birthday. I thought as it was a special occasion I'd go in my motorhome so we could enjoy the morning there together and have a picnic and use of our own toilet and tea making facilities We parked on the grass that is just through the hard standing car park area over flow so we were out of the way and not obstructing anyone. Other people had their picnic blankets out. Next to their cars so we decided to do the same.. We was having a lovely time then a very rude man in a high vis jacket came marching over saying" you do know you cant stay there over night dont you. We close at 7!." the tone was very rude and made us feel very uncomfortable. We had no intension of staying for the night we was only there for the morning to enjoy a picnic. A police car also turned up not long after. But went without doing anything as they could see there wasnt an issue with us. Then the guy comes back in his council van and it felt like he was interrogating me. Asking me a load of questions that i answered politely. But i actually now wish i would have asked him to stop hardasssing me. Ruined our precious family time...

We visited Wat Tyler and got there fairly early (well not that early, it was 9am!). First comment is that if visiting at the weekend you may sit in a queue as the local recycling area is next door and the cars seem to queue up on the road before it opens. When you eventually get into Wat Tyler there is a few different places to park (but the parking is free!) The visitor centre area includes some toilets and a cafe - although most (all?) Open at 10am (which was a slight issue with the small person when we got there!!)

There are a few walks that can be done. I thought on the drive in that it was a pretty big place, but in all honesty it was no where near as big as I thought it was. Scattered throughout the walks there is a few things and information boards to discover which was good.

On our visit the train was not running (signs said maintenance - but the line was incredibly overgrown so I suspect not run for a while?) Also, the playground is currently being refurbished so the kids were unable to go on that either.

A nice place, and will probably improve / give a better experience once things are back up and...