If you've heard of Mersea and you're not from Essex, the chances are it's because of the Company Shed. Until it was discovered by restaurant critics seven or eight years ago, this unassuming seafood shack, on the shores of a muddy creek, was something of an insider's secret. For the natives of east London and Essex who converged on this small estuary island at the weekend, it was a place of pilgrimage where they would eat their own bodyweight in oysters, rollmops and prawns, then high-tail it back across the Strood – the ancient Roman causeway that links Mersea to the mainland – before sunset.
I grew up in Essex and the seafood run to Mersea is a well-established family ritual. But like most of the day trippers who visit, I've never ventured much beyond the harbour in West Mersea where the yacht club, lifeboat station and a handful of cafés and pubs are clustered. I suspected Mersea had more to offer than half-a-dozen Colchester Natives and a glass of white wine, but it seemed too close to home to justify a longer stay.
Then I came across the website for Monkey Beach Cottage. If I were to conjure up an image of my perfect holiday home it would look something like this – a 300-year-old weatherboard cottage with red-tiled roof and vines twisting around the front door and a dreamy, secluded back garden with glinting views of the estuary. Within minutes of spotting it, I'd phoned the owner and booked our family in for a long weekend. Beautifully furnished with antiques, oil paintings by local artist David Britton and with piles of magazines and books and beams and lots of cosy little nooks, it's the kind of place that makes you long for a rainy day so you can stay inside. But the sun was shining when we arrived and my daughter and nephews were itching to get on to the beach.
The perfect getaway: Monkey Beach Cottage. Mersea is not known for its golden sands but Monkey Beach, just across the road from the cottage, is probably the island's best. The children set about exploring the network of tiny creeks and boardwalks which criss-cross the marshes and collecting sun-bleached oyster shells to decorate their sandcastles. I had some half-baked idea about eating in the Company Shed, but by the time we got there at midday the queues had already started to form (they don't take bookings, and a two-hour wait is not unusual on a sunny day), so we walked 100m further up the Coast Road to the West Mersea Oyster Bar, which makes a decent (some would say better) alternative – with the added bonus that it's licensed, takes bookings and serves dishes such as fish and chips for shellfish refuseniks.
Later, after a gentle hour crabbing on the pontoon, we took a boat trip around the bay. Our captain, Stacey Belbin, who is descended from a long line of Mersea fishermen, pointed out the 19th-century oyster-packing sheds and the square hulk of Bradwell Power Station – now decommissioned – squatting on the opposite shore. In winter she runs fishing expeditions for cod, sea bass and whiting, and trips to see the wading birds which gather on the surrounding mudflats.
Sea legs: crabbing on a pontoon on Mersea Island. Photograph: Alamy East Mersea, by contrast, is mostly farmland. The only people who tend to head east are holidaymakers staying at the caravan parks here. Cudmore Grove Country Park, at the far eastern tip of the island, is a perfect spot for a picnic, with acres of grassland and forest sloping down to a vast beach and views of the white sailing masts of Brightlingsea sparkling across the Colne estuary. Hard to believe but the eroding cliffs here have yielded hippopotamus bones, elephant tusks and shark's teeth dating back 300,000 years. Today the only wildlife you're likely to encounter are wading birds such as geese, golden plovers and widgeon.
After a breezy walk along the sea wall, we went in search of Mersea's newest restaurant. The Haward family, which runs the Company Shed, recently opened a second outpost in a humble prefab building on a quiet country lane in East Mersea. We ordered smoked-mackerel pâté, fishcakes and scallops with samphire and washed it down with a bottle of Mersea Mehalah, a dry local white. Very local, in fact: the Mersea Island Vineyard provided our natural next stop, and as well as picking up a couple of bottles of wine, we took home some ale from the adjacent microbrewery, including a traditional stout made with oysters.
Driving back to the cottage we passed a stream of traffic heading back to the mainland and allowed ourselves to feel a little smug that we would get the island to ourselves for another evening. With its cute weatherboard cottages, ramshackle houseboats marooned on mudflats, fine seafood and jaunty nautical air, Mersea is a beguiling place for a day trip, but it's when the crowds have left and the only sound is the seagulls and the clanking of the bells on the sailing boats that it really comes into its own. It occurs to me that if Mersea were near Brighton, or Whitstable, as opposed to the deeply uncool Clacton-on-Sea, it would be completely overrun with tourists, impossibly twee and probably very annoying. But it's not. And I'm glad.
Where to stay
A week at Monkey Beach Cottage, which sleeps seven, costs from £575, with a 10% reduction for weekend rentals (monkeybeachcottage.co.uk).
Where to eat
The Art Café
The best place on the island for a cooked breakfast, with paintings from local artists for sale (2 Coast Road, West Mersea; 01206 385820, islandartcafe.co.uk)
West Mersea Oyster Bar
A great alternative to the Company Shed if you can't face the queues. Menu highlights include the oysters, seafood platter and fish and chips (Coast Road, West Mersea; 01206 381 600, westmerseaoysterbar.co.uk)
Mehalah's at Oysters & Ale
An East Mersea outpost from the family behind the Company Shed. Open all day (except Wednesdays) for breakfast, simple seafood dishes, sandwiches and cakes. They'll also make up a picnic hamper for a day at the beach. (East Road, East Mersea; 01206 382 797, tomhaward.wix.com/mehalahs)
Things to do
Lady Grace Boat Trips
In summer 20-minute sightseeing trips around the bay depart from the pontoon and cost £2 per person. In winter the boat can be hired for fishing and birdwatching trips. (07791 859 624, ladygraceboattrips.webs.com)
Mersea Island Vineyard and Brewery
Tours and tastings can be organised of this small vineyard and micro-brewery. The café serves afternoon tea (vineyard.merseabrewery.co.uk)
