About Basildon

The leafy Essex town of Basildon, much like many of its neighbours, has undergone massive regeneration over recent decades, with new shopping centres, cinemas and sports complexes springing up all over. The new Westgate Park shopping centre, for instance, offers a huge range of retailers and leisure opportunities for visitors, as does Basildon high street.

One particularly unusual attraction on offer in the town's Eastgate shopping centre is a clock that is well worth a visit. The enormous 'Cats Cradle Pussiwillow Clock' was commissioned by Basildon from the man who designed the car in the film version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and it comes to life every quarter hour through a variety of moving parts and figures. In the town square there also stands a beautiful bronze statue, created to symbolise Basildon's New Town status, known as 'The Mother and Child'.

The verdant nature of Basildon district is reflected in the sheer number of local parks and nature reserves that are available to enjoy. For example, just outside town, on the borders of the Thames estuary, lies the Wat Tyler Country Park - 120 acres of woodland with plenty of activities for kids and grown-ups alike, such as adventure playgrounds, cafe and an education and craft centre.

For a more hands-on experience of the local countryside, Barleylends Farm in nearby Billericay could be ideal: home to a miniature railway, craft village and a regular farmers' market, as well as giving you the opportunity to get close to the animals.

Although the bulk of the town we see today is of fairly unremarkable modern construction, there are one or two architectural oddities in Basildon, such as the St Martins Bell Tower.