Essex: Not what everyone thinks! Hockley is not the chavy essex town anyone thinks it is. It is a small (but growing) village situated 10mins on the train from Southend on Sea. Its not beautiful but its home. Everyone is friendly, sure you get your thugs and your crime but doesnt everywhere these days? Infact I reckon Hockley is very low in the crime rating league tables...not a lot happens really!! From small coffee shops and the local variety of pubs we have it all really. I would say there are tooooooo many takeways but again thats just typical of anyway these days. There are lots of bus stops dotted about, not ...  Read the complete review

My village is situated close to the pleasant small town of Rayleigh and is approximately 8 miles west of Southend on Sea and 5 miles east of Basildon. Hockley is an Old English name meaning a woodland clearing belonging to a man called Hocca. It is also where hocks and mallows grow. This is Old Essex and Neolithic people moved from the banks of the River Crouch to the wooded hilly areas around my village, working the land until a population of 400 was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1066. With a present day population of nearly 10,000 I have seen much of this increase over recent decades as a large new estate rose up on a farm close to the village and ...  Read the complete review