Garrison Point

Shoeburyness sits at the eastern tip of the Southend coastline, and its character comes almost entirely from two things: the sea and the army. The former garrison gave the area its name and left behind handsome Victorian barracks buildings, parade grounds and the old Horseshoe Barracks, much of it now converted and listed. Gunners Park and Rifle Range Nature Reserve occupies the old military ground beside the water, a genuinely unusual mix of grassland, scrub and coastal path where skylarks and migrating waders are regular company. East Beach is a wide, shallow, sandy stretch that stays quieter than the stretches further west, while Shoebury Common Beach and the long promenade run towards Southend-on-Sea, with its pleasure pier — the longest in the world — Adventure Island and the Cliffs Pavilion. Shoeburyness itself has a modest high street of independent shops, a handful of cafés and traditional pubs. The A13 and A127 carry traffic west towards Basildon and the M25. From the sea wall you can watch container ships tracking up the estuary towards London Gateway.