Absolutely beautiful place for walk in the woods. Nice little food shack near one of the ponds…read more with sandwiches and cakes to enjoy if you get a little peckish on your walk. By far one of my favourite dog walks.

Festival Leisure Park is a retail park primarily with restaurants although there is also a cinema…read moreand bowling too. Restaurants such as Nando's, Aroma, Chiquito's, Chili's, Chicago Rock Cafe Chiquito's, McDonald's, Moza Indian, Nando's, Romano's Macaroni Grill and The Honey Pot all have outlets here. So you have a really fine choice for eating as you can see. The location is not too far from Basildon town centre but it would be a bit too far to walk I think. There are plenty of free parking spaces too and even on busy weekend nights, you will not have difficulty finding somewhere to park. Taxis are on hand if you prefer not to drive.

The festival park offers a variety of entertainment including bowling, cinema, gym, hotels, clubs…read moreand plenty of places to eat including pizza hut, macdonalds, frankie and bennies, chicagos, indian, TGI's and lots more. Sometimes there is a fair and an ice skating rink too. There is entertainment to suit all ages and personally i think it is the best part of Basildon.

I use Wickford Swimming pool regularly and find the staff really helpful and friendly. In recent…read moremonths the facility has been revamped. The pool and changing facilities are now excellent.

A lovely place to go if you enjoy going for peaceful walks on your own, with your family or with a…read morefour-legged companion, although it's very easy to get lost if you don't know your way around as it's not very well sign-posted. It's great for wildlife watching as they have a few bird hides (sometimes used by BBC's Springwatch) and you can see all sorts of creatures if you're lucky. If you don't go on the right day then sometimes not everything's open so if you're going for a specific reason check their website first. Many, many years ago I stayed here with a group of Girl Guides and they loved the place, although they got scared by the stories of ghosts and haunted cottages!

I love wat Tyler Park. I used to go there often when I was small and even now I'm an adult it's…read morestill a nice place to go. There's more than enough to have a really big picnic with plenty of room to play games and not interfere with anyone else's picnic. There's plenty of places to buy an ice cream or something more substantial and the prices are reasonable. There's also some very nice little craft shops and galleries. There's alsoa boat museum which is worth a visit!

I often go to Two Tree Island, at least once a month as the bird life there is fantastic. There are…read moretwo hides on the island, one which faces towards Canvey Island and the other faces towards the lagoon reserve. The latter is the better hide, however it is normally jam packed with twitchers, so I tend to walk a few more feet from here and look out over the lagoon. It is wonderful especially around September time when the samphire becomes a purple colour with green tones, it takes a wonderful picture. At the entrance to Two Tree island you can watch people launching their boats or preparing to jet ski, although the last time I was there, the current must have been very strong as a group of lads lost their jet ski as it wandered on its own little journey much to their dismay. It is a wonderful place to take children, I would suggest taking a book for local flora and fauna as there is numerous butterflies, insects, birds and also reptiles, I have not spotted an adder there yet, but I live in hope. Plus there is model aircraft which fly above, great fun to watch over a picnic.

A trip to Two Tree Island is an annual affair, encouraged by some mouth watering recipe from Jamie…read moreOliver in the News of the world supplement; this time Blackberry and Almond tart. This weekend threatened to be glorious and the warm weather fought through at mid-day to make for a fantastic few hours exploring this nature reserve. High tide was up so water was lapping around the edge of the island and there was plenty of action on the water from fishing boats, yachts and jet skis. In the centre of the island an air show was happening courtesy of a model airplane club, which explained the strange buzzing sounds we could hear when we parked up. Some of the bushes were looking quite poor for blackberries but others when found were brilliant and it did not take too long to get a decent amount. Distractions from the picking included looking at the amazing views both out into the Thames Estuary and towards Hadleigh Castle, my youngest just loved watching the C2C trains trundling along to Leigh Station which could be seen so clearly but from our distance looked to him like his model trains. My eldest was inquisitive about the nature of the island and we discovered a number of weird and wonderful plants, some far from my knowledge of knowing their names. The island is famous for twitchers and hides are available to try and spot Curlews, Cormorants, Widgeons and many other varieties. We were thrilled to get quite close up to a hawk hovering for its lunch. On a down side the island is a haven for large dogs to exercise, so you need to keep your eye out for the many piles of dog poo that litter the green space.

Stocking trainers and footwear this is not the cheapest store in the Eastgate Centre for buying…read morefootwear but they have a good selection of shoes that are not available in the other shops. The clientele looked younger rather than older on the day we visited but the shop was well attended with sales taking place. Well worth a look as they might have just what you are looking for.

the swimming poolis situated in gloucester park itself, by the sports court areas and is in good…read morecondition, very well sized and managed. staff are friendly, courteous and professional ensuring health and safety is kept too. good prices, and open all year around too. the park itself is huge, with plenty of open space to sit around, play football, play in the playground etc. with lots of wildlife particularly by the pond area it makes a nie little tranquil sopace in a busy town environment.

this was an awesome swimming pool and i cant believe they have closed it down for the new sporting…read morevillage, seriously the new pool is split in half so you cant even swim full lengths and being so shallow you cant even dive!!