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Colchester Ghost Tours brings you the other side of Colchester, Essex with your host and guide Derek Wray, a master storyteller who tells of the blood, gore, mayhem and ghosts, and the past that other tours don't reach. Come journey with him through the dark ways of ancient Colchester on the first Thursday of every month, starting at the town hall in High Street, and go in search of the life, love, death and abominable hauntings in their own words. Colchester Ghost Tours last over two hours through Britain's oldest recorded town, and home to Britain's oldest pubs and ghosts, usually ending in a haunted public house for relaxing drinks. There are three tours to choose from, the Town Centre Tour, the Dutch Quarter Tour and the Legend of the Chattering Corpse Tour, come hear the stories, learn the secrets, the history, legends and ghosts of Colchester.READ MORE

The Foundry Arms in Colchester, Essex is a family friendly freehouse with a warm welcome, originally a beer house, the name is associated with the foundry workers from days of old. This is a great venue for families with kids, and there's a beer garden, comfortable sofas and the bar in a welcoming environment for a relaxing drink with family and friends. The Foundry Arms landlord and lady have a dream to restore the venue to it's former glory and look forward to meeting you soon. READ MORE

The Beth Chatto Gardens in Colchester, Essex is an informal garden harmonising with the surrounding countryside and was transformed from an overgrown wasteland. Come view the art of planting at its best, and they began all the way back in 1960, you can even shop at the on-line nursery and enjoy plants from them in your own garden, they have over 2000 plants of good quality that they send out year round. The Beth Chatto Gardens offers excellent events and courses, and the gardens and nursery cover roughly 7 acres, plus they are open year round, and they welcome coaches and groups. Come view the world famous Gravel Garden, the Water Gardens, the pind and Scree Gardens, small raised beds and Woodland as well as reservoir Garden, it's all here. The tearoom offers a selection of breakfasts and light lunches with hot daily specials, homemade cakes, freshly ground coffee and specialty teas, and is the venue for workshops and events throughout the year.READ MORE

Firstsite offers contemporary visual arts in Colchester, Essex and their programme includes projects, exhibitions and publications by established and emerging artists, they also offer extensive learning opportunities and artists' support initiatives. They have since 1994 supported and invested in artists across the Eastern region, and now have a spectacular new building with front portico rising to 11 metres high comprising exhibition space, gallery spaces, a shop selling creative gifts, and a restaurant all lit throughout with natural light. Firstsite also has a state of the art auditorium which comfortable seats 190 people, and the venue is available for hire and is ideal for conferences, presentations, and product launches as well as celebrations, club and society meetings and private parties with a stunning backdrop.READ MORE

The Four Sevens is a wonderful bed and breakfast and modern guest house just 5 minutes walk from Colchester town centre, in a quiet location. This large and spacious Victorian house offers comfortable accommodations in refurbished rooms with hospitality trays. LCD TV's with Freeview and Sky and DVD players, and free WIFI access. The Four Sevens Guesthouse offers you a warm and friendly welcome, and a generous breakfast to start your day, and Colchester and the surrounding area have a vast range of attractions, and over 2000 years of history, come for a magical stay.READ MORE

The Britannia Gurkha Restaurant and Bar in Colchester, Essex offers freshly prepared Gurkha curry in the restaurant including choices of Fish, lamb, vegetable and dal, steamed rice, Gurkha Roti and tomato chutney, and starters include papadoms, tamarind chutney, aloodum, egg Pakora and mint chutney. There's a set menu which changes daily and they regularly host events with live entertainment once a month. The Bar area at the Britannia Gurkha Restaurant and Bar is friendly and traditional boasting a large seating area and pool table, dart boards, game machines and a juke box, plus there's a beer garden at the back and covered smoking area. They offer an excellent venue and welcome families and the bar is fully stocked with spirits and bottles and a full wine list, come enjoy.READ MORE

Colchester Camping and Caravan Park in Colchester, Essex welcomes you to this wonderful setting just outside the historic town, and this family owned and run touring site caters to caravans, motorcaravans, tents and trailer tents. The have secure alarmed storage facilities for tour caravans and motorcaravans, plus offer a number of seasonal onsite pitches. The well managed Colchester Camping and Caravan Park has quality facilities including free showers and hot water, hook-ups, hard standings, a play area and laundry, as well as convenience grocery and caravan accessory shop. They are ideally located next to a parkland and nature reserve, and boast 251 touring caravan or camping pitches, come for a fabulous stay.READ MORE

Vallies Lounge in Colchester, Essex is a fantastic clubbing bar with relaxed environment and very friendly atmosphere that welcomes all and is a great venue for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. Come for a great experience and they offer theme night's, DJ's, cabaret and great drink prices and their team is really friendly. Vallies Lounge is available for hire for your private function and they supply everything from drinks to DJ's to door staff, come party the night away, a great experience is guaranteed.READ MORE

Compuccino Internet Cafe in Colchester, Essex is open 7 days a week serving a range of teas, coffees and soft drinks with a fresh food including sandwiches, toasties and jacket potatoes. This true internet cafe offers internet access with fourteen internet access terminals available as well as access points for laptops in a spaciously laid out setting, plus a scanner is available and black and white printing. Compuccino Internet Cafe has comfortable seating for up to 70 people, and their daily specials include shepherds pie, meat and potato pie or steak and kidney pie, all served with vegetables or chips, and they have milkshakes in a variety of flavours as well as lattes, mochas and cappuccinos. They cater to children's parties on request as well as family groups. READ MORE

The Lexden Crown in Colchester, Essex offers an exceptional dining experience where the tradition of hospitality dates all the way back to 1851, and the perfect blend of traditional English pub and contemporary bistro awaits in this refurbished 17th century building. Open for lunch and dinner seven days week, they have a sunny walled garden and the beautifully refurbished 17th century building is warm and welcoming and great for dining and drinking in relaxed surrounds. There are daily chefs specials and a menu that changes with the seasons offers traditional meals from fresh locally sourced produce. The Lexden Crown is available for events and private hire, and is ideal for Christenings, birthday parties, wedding receptions corporate events and wakes.READ MORE

The Mercury Theatre of Colchester, Essex is one of the leading performing arts and producing theatres in the country, and their aim is to put theatre at the heart of the community. The main theatre and studio theatre combined reach and audience of 586 people, and they do on-site productions and their workshop facilities create sets, props and costumes for in-house productions and touring companies, this welcoming theatre also offers award winning customer service, and they nurture new talent in all areas of theatre. The Mercury Theatre is also available for venue hire, and they offer a comfortable and versatile space ideal for meetings, conferences, drink receptions and events, and spaces for hire include the main theatre and studio theatre, the bar and digby gallery. Come view the exceptional quality of the theatre's homegrown work by a talented team, or get involved.READ MORE

Acacia Cottage is your Colchester comfortably furnished holiday home built in the 1800's with a very central location. This character property with modern facilities is ideal for families or couples on holiday, and boasts a secluded garden with patio area ideal for alfresco dining or a barbeque, and the area is fully enclosed and safe for children to play. Acacia Cottage has two good sized bedrooms, an open plan downstairs living space, a fully fitted kitchen and bathroom. There's garden furniture and a BBQ, a dining room, central heating and much more, come for the perfect home away from home stay.READ MORE

Il Padrino meaning The Godfather is located in Colchester, Essex and is a wonderful Italian restaurant with mouthwatering food offering great value for money in a relaxed atmosphere, it's everything you want for great dining out. Open for lunch and dinner with head chef and owner Fausto, this 70-seat restaurant offers an intimate atmosphere over three floors, with open plan kitchen on the ground floor where the meals are prepared. Il Padrino offers an exquisite a la carte menu and there's a mouthwatering selection of fish and seafood specials on the blackboards. They also have brunch dishes, starters, pasta and rice dishes, chef's salads and drinks, and will create a menu specifically for groups, come experience the Italian divine.READ MORE

The George Hotel Colchester is a 500 year old coaching inn that resonates with history in the heart of historic Colchester, Essex right on the high street, close to Colchester Castle. Boasting choices of executive, superior family, classic double, twin, single and mini double room choices, all individually decorated to a high standard, a fabulous stay awaits both the leisure and business guest. There's a stylish lounge bar with original features, and a Courtyard Brasserie serving English dishes and regional specialties by talented chefs for a memorable dining experience. The George Hotel Colchester is also the perfect venue and setting for private dining and functions in bespoke function rooms and they cater to parties, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, retirements, Bar Mitzvahs and other special occasions, complete with banqueting and events coordinator. READ MORE

The Victoria Inn is a proper pub located in Colchester, Essex and offers an award winning experience in this 17th century Grade II listed building. With a traditional friendly pub atmosphere and function room, this freehouse welcomes all and they are renowned for their fine ales, perries and real cider and even have a dedicated craft ale pump. The Victoria Inn has a real fire in winter, comfortable sofa area, a sheltered courtyard and a covered converted stable block with comfortable conservatory style seating. They welcome you any night of the week to enjoy a visit to a real local pub and regularly host live music and events.READ MORE

The Colchester Zoo offers an award winning experience with over 270 species over 60 acres of beautiful parklands and lakes, and is constantly developing. Come for an action packed visit into the magnificent world of these animals, see white rhinos, maybe even feed the elephants and giraffes, there's ostrich and kudu a roaming at Kingdom of the wild, and even an underwater walk at the tunnel of the Playa Patagonia sealion pool, as well as Komodo Dragons and many daily displays, and the road train, the Lost Madagascar Express will take you on a magical ride. The Colchester Zoo has a Butterfly Glade with free flying butterflies, a state of the art enclosure housing two beautiful sun bears, a tropical walkthrough with lorikeets, plus the sensation station where you can handle some scaly species and furry friends. The Colchester Zoo offers an excellent visitor experience, and they have delicious food outlets, two souvenir gift shops with unique products and so much more, come for a memorable day out.READ MORE

The Holistic Retreat in Assington between Colchester and Sudbury, Essex is a beauty centre on a beautiful farm offering holistic and beauty therapies to create a balance between the mind, body and spirit. Come to the relaxing tranquil surrounds, and surrender yourself to a spa like experience with a range of massage therapies, beauty therapies and pamper packages. Holistic therapies at the Holistic Retreat include reflexology, Reiki healing, crystal healing, nutritional therapy, baby massages and meditation classes and beauty treatments include a wide range of facials, waxing, manicures and pedicures, spray tanning, make up and eyebrow and eyelash treatments. Friendly therapists await you and ensure a blissful sense of relaxation and healing.READ MORE

The Essex Wine School in Colchester, Essex offers fun and informal Essex wine tastings and Essex wine courses and are not affiliated to any wine merchants or retailers. This independent company is for people who love and enjoy wine, and would like to know more about it, and no previous wine tasting experience is necessary. The Essex Wine School offers a wonderful programme of events from wine tasting days and evenings to food and wine matching, spirit and beer tastings, and they host corporate events and private wine tastings. They even offer professional and accredited wine and spirit qualifications from WSET an internationally recognised, awarding body for the wine trade. So come relax, have fun in a casual setting and enjoy learning all about wine.READ MORE

Dedham Vale Vineyard in Colchester, Essex produces six styles of award winning wines set in 40 acres of rolling English countryside, they also have a proprietary cider and signature fruit liqueurs. There's an on-line shop if you can't visit personally, and during wet walnut season, the Wet Walnut & Vineyard Shop, Trail and Tasting Barn are open seven days a week. The Dedham Vale Vineyard Trail welcomes you on a self conducted tour, to see how the grapes become wine in a bottle, with wine tasting and the Grand Tour and Tasting welcomes you on a full English wine experience with guided tour and tasting from their expert winemakers followed by afternoon tea or lunch in the Tasting Barn, plus there are group tours available in this idyllic setting with catering as required.READ MORE

Sorano's Ristorante in Thorrington, Colchester, Essex brings you the Italian divine with tradition and passion and you will always feel at home at this family run Italian restaurant and experience attentive service. The menu offers hot and cold starter choices exquisite fish, pasta and risotto and side dishes, and they are open for breakfast from English to other choices, as well as lunch and dinner and have a bambini menu, and leave space for mouthwatering desserts. Sorano's Ristorante regularly host not to be missed events and come highly recommended, come for a fabulous dining experience of Italian delights.READ MORE

Castle Road Cottages are ideally located in the heart of Colchester, Essex offering a high quality self catering stay with the perfect blend of stylish accommodation and a good location as they say. They ensure your stay is as comfortable as possible with fine quality towels and bed linen, complementary tea and ground coffee as well as fresh fruit to welcome you. Hope Cottage, a one time Quaker bakehouse is the perfect retreat for couples and boasts an intimate atmosphere, snug lounge and cosy kitchen breakfast room and much more with upstairs Edwardian elegance. The 6 Castle Road Cottage is a classic Victorian artisan cottage with lovingly restored period details including cast iron fireplaces, antique furnishings, pretty back garden and much more ideal for three to four guests. Castle Road Cottages true delights in beautiful surrounds, come for a magical stay. READ MORE

Go Bananas in Colchester, Essex offer's a jungle's worth of adventure and fun as they say, and welcomes all young adventurers with something for every little monkey to enjoy, exlore and conquer. There's and Aztec Ruins adventure area with challenges and 3 levels to conquer, many sites and Funky Monkey's jungle home, they also have a lane water Astra slide, wobbly planks, stepping stones and a swing through the ruins. Tiny Town is a mini version of the Aztec Adventure for young one's aged 4 and under and here toddler rule, assisting with challenges they may face in the future. The Go Bananas cafe offers excellent meals, snacks and coffee as well as a wide range of children's meals, free WIFI and homemade cake. There's an after school club, and this is the perfect venue for children or adult parties where the fun never ends, with many kiddies packages and choices, or the ideal adult venue for corporate events, birthdays, hen nights, stag nights, team building and much more.READ MORE