Osea Island, Essex: A secret so well-kept that even the locals have barely heard of it

Annunciata Elwes looks at a little-known spot accessible for just a few hours a day.

Osea Island.
Osea Island.
(Image credit: Alamy)

A slice of Nantucket in the enigmatic Blackwater Estuary, Osea Island is a secret so well kept that few of the folk of Essex even know about it.

This is hardly surprising, as the island is approached via a causeway built by the Romans that only emerges from the depths for about four hours a day at low tide.

Osea Island's Roman Causeway hidden by the waves off the coast of Essex.

Oysters have been harvested here since the Anglo-Saxons were eating them and, although no one lives on the 380-acre island now, visitors can rent a cottage, walk along private beaches, spot wartime pillboxes and birdwatch; as well as sparrowhawks, kestrels and cormorants, Osea is the only place where all five species of British owl can be found.

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Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.