In search

Did you know that there was an earth­quake in Colch­ester in 1884? Or that mam­moths and hip­pos used to roam this area?

Find out more about local wildlife habi­tats, bio­di­ver­si­ty and cli­mate change at this much-loved, fam­i­ly-friend­ly muse­um. Get up close to nature as you learn about stag bee­tles – a Colch­ester suc­cess sto­ry – and dis­cov­er the secrets of the drowned world under­neath the North Sea. 

Enjoy 300 years of his­to­ry in this beau­ti­ful Geor­gian town­house through hands-on exhibits and dis­plays. Dis­cov­er what fam­i­ly life was life for the rich and the poor. Then be trans­port­ed back to the days before wash­ing machines to try out a dol­ly peg and dress up as a servant. 

Explore Hol­lytrees in minia­ture through the dolls’ house or dis­cov­er Bernard Mason’s fas­ci­nat­ing col­lec­tion of Colch­ester clocks. You can even learn all about the ori­gins of Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Lit­tle Star, loved the world over and writ­ten in Colchester. 

The Balk­erne water tow­er, known affec­tion­ate­ly as ​‘Jum­bo’, is the best of its type in Eng­land. Jum­bo pro­vid­ed water to Colch­ester for a cen­tu­ry but fell out of use in 1984. 

Your the­atre, your stories

The Mer­cury is an artis­tic pow­er­house in the East – a vital, vibrant, wel­com­ing cen­tre of cul­ture for the peo­ple of Colch­ester, Essex and beyond.

The the­atre takes its name from the Roman mes­sen­ger god, Mercury.

It was Mercury’s task to con­nect the peo­ple with the gods, and so, in keep­ing with our name, con­nec­tion is at the heart of every­thing we do.

First­site is a pub­lic con­tem­po­rary art gallery in Colch­ester, mak­ing and show­ing great art and cul­ture that cel­e­brates the peo­ple, places and pri­or­i­ties of Colch­ester, Essex and East Anglia in order to empow­er all com­mu­ni­ties to be hap­pi­er and health­i­er togeth­er. First­site spec­tac­u­lar cres­cent-shaped build­ing, designed by award-win­ning Uruguayan archi­tect Rafael Viñoly, pro­vides a cre­ative and social space like no oth­er. Over the last eight years it has gained a strong, crit­i­cal rep­u­ta­tion, pre­sent­ing ambi­tious work to new audi­ences in the East of Eng­land and beyond. First­site is a part­ner of Plus Tate, which uses Tate’s resources to con­tribute to a net­work of arts organ­i­sa­tions across the coun­try, and to increase pub­lic access to the nation­al col­lec­tion of British and inter­na­tion­al mod­ern and con­tem­po­rary art. First­site exhi­bi­tions are free and open to any­one. Fol­low us on Twit­ter & Face­book @firstsite and Insta­gram @firstsitecolchester

Attwells are solic­i­tors in Colch­ester, Ipswich and North Lon­don who spe­cialise in con­veyanc­ing, prop­er­ty law and plan­ning. Attwells com­bi­na­tion of wide-rang­ing con­veyanc­ing and plan­ning exper­tise enables it to deliv­er a unique ser­vice to prop­er­ty peo­ple. Attwells also has a strong rep­u­ta­tion in employ­ment law, busi­ness law and dis­pute res­o­lu­tion. Attwells per­son­al ser­vice is award-win­ning, pro-active and focused upon sim­pli­fy­ing the law. Attwells cul­ture is nur­tur­ing of its diverse tal­ent. We look for­ward to help­ing you.

Cur­zon is known for being a place to explore oth­er worlds and cul­tures or dis­cov­er some­thing new. Besides that, it’s a loca­tion where drinks and con­ver­sa­tion are shared in equal mea­sure and where a vari­ety of peo­ple can have won­der­ful expe­ri­ences at the movies.

Our aim at Zoe’s brow & beau­ty bar is to be a col­lec­tive of cre­ative tal­ent work­ing togeth­er to pro­vide 5 star brow & beau­ty ser­vices to each and every client that walks through our door. An expe­ri­ence that merges qual­i­ty exper­tise & skills, but with an atti­tude of cool, friend­ly & approachable.

Cul­ture & com­mu­ni­ty that makes all feel accepted.

Here at Hazelmere, we aim to cre­ate a hap­py, safe and car­ing envi­ron­ment where chil­dren can learn with enjoy­ment. We strive to lead by exam­ple, and through pro­vid­ing a nur­tur­ing cul­ture, we hope that Hazelmere pupils will grow up to be ready to learn, respect­ful and safe. Our aim is to inspire cre­ativ­i­ty, engen­der respect and cul­ti­vate responsibility.

We know that for chil­dren to reach their poten­tial, there must be a sup­port­ive part­ner­ship between home and school. We hope our web­site rein­forces this link and pro­vides use­ful infor­ma­tion for all stakeholders.