The guide
Colchester
Essex, England
Colchester Castle — the largest surviving Norman keep in Europe — rising over Castle Park.
Getting there
London Liverpool Street → Colchester — all direct, with the fastest trains reaching the town in around 46–48 minutes. Saturday runs roughly 3–4 trains an hour from 05:34, and Sunday roughly 2–3 an hour — but Sunday service starts later (first train 06:45) and the early Sunday services run slower, so allow the best part of an hour if you set off first thing. Minor planned works affect the approach to Liverpool Street before 09:50 on Sunday mornings, but no replacement buses are needed on this route.
Famous for
Britain's First City. Colchester was the Roman capital of Britain — Camulodunum — nearly two thousand years ago, and it wears those two millennia with remarkable ease: the largest Norman keep in Europe, the oldest Roman town walls in Britain, and a zoo with sea lions swimming overhead through an underwater tunnel. It is the kind of town where history is not behind glass; you walk over it, through it and occasionally lunch beside it.
Where to eat
Sunday roasts, done properly — Colchester is good at this.
- The Foresters Arms — friendly gastropub on Castle Road, right beside Castle Park; the Sunday roast arrives with all the trimmings.
- Church Street Tavern — Michelin Guide selected; modern British dining in a restored 18th-century townhouse, open Sundays 10:30–5.
- Rim Jhim Spice — Indian restaurant with 4.8 stars across 1,300+ Google reviews; one of Colchester's most-reviewed independents.
- North Hill Noodle Bar — 4.7 stars from 2,183 Google reviews; quick, warming noodle bowls near the top of North Hill.
What to do
Castle Park — the town's green heart.
African elephants at Colchester Zoo.
- Colchester Castle — the largest Norman keep in Europe, with Roman vaults below and guided tours up to the roof; open Sundays 11–5. The Museum of the Moon — a 7-metre lunar sculpture — hangs in the great hall until 31 October 2026.
- The town walls walk — circle the oldest surviving Roman town walls in Britain, ending at Balkerne Gate, the oldest Roman gateway in the country.
- Castle Park — 11 hectares of gardens, a lake and a bandstand around the castle; free.
- Hollytrees Museum — free; 18th-century costume, clocks and toys in a Georgian townhouse at the park's edge.
- The Natural History Museum — free; small, friendly and opposite Hollytrees — a naturalist's quick win.
- Firstsite — the town's contemporary art gallery, all golden cladding and big ideas.
- The Roman Circus Visitor Centre — the remains of Britain's only known Roman chariot-racing circus.
Jess's favourite Colchester Zoo, out at Stanway
open every day at 9:30am (currently to 5pm, closed only on Christmas Day). Over 150 species across 60 acres, including African elephants, the underwater sea-lion tunnel at Playa Patagonia, hand-feeding the giraffes, and keeper-shadowing experiences from £85. Arrive before midday to see every area before the early closings — and the zookeeper in Jess gives the enrichment programmes full professional marks.
Good to know: On a Sunday, the castle opens 11–5, the zoo opens at 9:30am, and Castle Park is free all day — a Saturday would let you catch the market and the full museum hours too. Trains from Liverpool Street are all direct: roughly 3–4 an hour on Saturdays and 2–3 an hour on Sundays, but Sunday's first trains leave later and the early ones run slower, so Sunday mornings start gentle. No major works were found on this route for the coming weekend, but always check before you travel.
Jess plans her trips the week before, but trains have a mind of their own. Routes, times and fares in these guides were checked at the time of writing — engineering works, timetable changes and last-minute alterations can still happen. Please check your journey before you travel (National Rail Enquiries or the Trainline app) — and if a replacement bus sneaks in, we hope the day makes up for it.
Read Jess's diary of the day ↓
Jess's Day Off · Diary No. 13
Colchester: Romans, Roasts and Really Big Ears
Colchester, Essex
Liverpool Street to Colchester in about fifty minutes, which is quicker than the giraffe yard on a rainy morning and considerably more dignified. Two thousand years of history before my flask of tea had cooled.
I had the usual kit: cheese sandwich, flask, notebook with Barnaby's latest dictation (a hedgehog, a wall built in a hurry, and a mix-up between "Roman" and "roamin'" — I will tell you when it's finished), and a plan that said, confidently, "castle, walls, park."
The arrival
Colchester station, and the first thing I noticed was the quiet. No sea lions shouting through the tunnel. No lemurs arguing about who saw the keeper first. Just pigeons doing pigeon admin on the Dutch Quarter rooflines and the biggest Norman keep I have ever stood next to, sitting in the middle of town like it owns the postcode, which it more or less does.
The walk
The castle is the largest surviving Norman keep in Europe, and standing inside it with the Museum of the Moon glowing seven metres overhead — a full moon indoors, on a Sunday — felt exactly like the sort of thing Barnaby would make up, except it was real and slightly better. I did the guided tour down into the Roman vaults, where the guide pointed at stones older than most countries and said "Temple of Claudius" the way I say "tapir time," and I loved her for it.
Then, of course, I took my mandatory wrong turn. I was aiming for Hollytrees Museum and walked straight into the Roman Circus Visitor Centre instead — Britain's only known Roman chariot-racing stadium, two thousand years of hoof-marks under a quiet estate. It was better than wherever I had been heading. The rule holds: the wrong turn is usually the right one.
Castle Park was full of squirrels doing very professional squirrel things, a swan on the lake conducting an argument with a moorhen over a bread crust, and a robin following me for the better part of ten minutes because I dropped half a sandwich. I have never felt so professionally understood.
The zoo
The afternoon belonged to Colchester Zoo — the zookeeper in me could not resist. The sea lions at Playa Patagonia swim overhead through an underwater tunnel while you stand underneath, and one of them did three laps just for the small girl next to me, who screamed. The elephants are magnificent, the giraffe feeding queue was a mile long, and I spent twenty minutes taking professional notes on the enrichment programme with what I hoped was a discreet face. It was not a discreet face. I know because a keeper winked at me.
The café
Tea and cake at the Castle Park café by the lake, watching the swans sort themselves into a neat row for the camera of a small boy with very sticky fingers. The robin from earlier made a reappearance and inspected my slice of lemon drizzle with an expert's eye. I gave him the end crust. Professional courtesy.
Lunch
The Foresters Arms on Castle Road — Sunday roast with all the trimmings, eaten like someone who mucks out enclosures for a living, which is to say: thoroughly and without shame. Jess's pick, and I stand by it completely.
Home
Back in London by early evening. Tired, slightly windswept, notebook smelling faintly of roast potatoes and sea-lion splash. And next time I'm doing the town walls walk properly — Balkerne Gate, the oldest Roman gateway in Britain, deserves the full walk round. Happy.
Story seed
The wrong turn did it. Pinafor insists on a shortcut through the wood, Clarence follows with his map held upside down, and they stumble into a clearing neither of them has ever seen — a round pond with a frog who claims to be very old and knows all the gossip. Pinafor is furious her shortcut worked. Clarence is delighted his map was useless. Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones you didn't plan for.
Barnaby's text"You took the wrong turn and found a circus. That is not luck, Jess — that is a keeper's eye, noticing what matters instead of only what you planned for. Keep walking, keep looking, keep noticing. You are doing beautifully."
— Jess
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