Essex Marshes (Bleak House)

The Essex marshes are salt marshes that are located all down the coast of Essex. There are several marinas located in the marshes, but for the most part, they are fairly unpopulated mud flats at low tide popular only with bird watchers. The rector of East Mersea in 1880 wrote "A more desolate region can scarce be conceived and yet it is not without beauty". In Bleak House, Dickens includes the marshes in the list of places that fog is hanging over: "Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights..."

Pictures: Cabin on the marshes, Aerial view of the marshes, Fog on the marshes