Commuting from Southend: biggest town in Essex has new homes and direct trains to Liverpool Street

Essex commuter towns are on a roll.

Regeneration is spreading out from Docklands and touching coastal areas as far as Southend and Harwich as well as Colchester, Britain’s first Roman city.

Despite the vast Thames Estuary industrial legacy, 70 per cent of Essex is countryside, with many pretty villages and some of the country’s best state and private schools.

Southend is known for its pleasure pier, the longest in Europe.

But it is also the biggest town in Essex and a regional business centre in its own right, revitalised by Southend airport, which until the Seventies was third busiest in the UK and is expanding with hubs for easyJet and Aer Lingus.

Another good transport link is the “C to C” (City to Sea) line, which offers an hour’s rail commute to Fenchurch Street.

Developer Weston Homes has spotted demand from young professionals searching for a good-value home.

Prospects is a new apartment scheme in Prittlewell, a satellite village of Southend.

As well as having its own train station with a direct service to Liverpool Street, the village has a medieval priory and a rare Anglo-Saxon burial chamber, the discovery of which in 2003 ranks second in importance to the uncovering of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt, claim some archaeologists.

The new apartments are spread across three low-rise blocks with brick façades.

All homes have outside space, private parking and added-value extras such as digitally controlled smart showers and baths. Prices from £177,500. Call 01702 311003.