Our Annexe is set up to be your 'home away from home'. It's not an impersonal hotel; it's homely, cosy and, being self-catering, allows you complete freedom from the limitations of restaurant opening times and menus. You can even bring your pets with you! In summer, you can relax on our deck and barbecue. For those of you with children or dogs, we have a trampoline on the property and a field with a children's recreation park just on our doorstep. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not suggesting the trampoline for the dogs! :-)

Welcome to The Annexe and thanks for booking! We're looking forward to meeting you. We're a busy, outgoing, family of four (two boys aged 12 and 9), plus a dog and a cat (who will definitely keep themselves to themselves unless you're interested in getting to know them). We've been hosting guests in the Annexe for a while now and have really enjoyed the changing faces we have met - people from all over the world - some of whom we're still in contact with! As hosts, we are as present or as removed as you'd like us to be, in that we're on hand for help and questions or to fix problems, but are also more than happy to let you enjoy your time away from home on your own.

Our house is in a quiet cul-de-sac, just over the road from a large, open recreation area, with sports and exercise facilities as well as a children's play park. We are a 10 minute taxi ride/drive from the centre of Colchester, which is Britain's oldest recorded town! There is a lot of history to take in, including a Roman wall (boasting the only carriage gate still in existence), a Norman castle and much more. Guided walking tours of the town take 2 hours and are highly recommended - if you like history, as I do. We are under an hour from London by train, 30 minutes' drive from the coast, and deep in the natural beauty of 'Constable' country (countryside made famous by landscape painter, John Constable, who was born 30 minutes drive from us in Suffolk in 1776).