There are shades of Arthur Ransome about what must be every Londoner’s dream waterside retreat, the evocatively named Tideways at Creeksea, near Burnham-on-Crouch, for which Savills quote a guide price of £2.75m.
Its owners first discovered this sailor’s paradise when they first started looking for a house in the area after years renting nearby in a spot that was an hour-and-a-half’s drive of the family home in London — and barely over an hour on the train from Liverpool Street Station.
‘For a blissful nine years from 2000 to 2008, we rented a cottage on Osea Island in the River Blackwater, as a place to get away from it all,' the owners of Tideways explain.
'Our children, then very young, loved to watching the island causeway vanish into the sea, leaving them to enjoy the run of what felt like their own private island.
'When Osea was sold in 2008, we started looking for another special place with a similar island feel, and almost immediately found Tideways, just a few miles due south of Osea’.
Thus began a 10-year love affair with this remarkable house set in 31 acres, 9.31 of which is gardens and meadow, the remainder comprising the intertidal foreshore and part of the bed of the River Crouch. Three generations of the family who built it in 1928 had lived there continuously, haphazardly extending the building over time.
The new owners thought about demolishing the house and replacing it with a ‘Mies-style glass sandwich, to make the Modernist most of this amazing site’, but decided on a full renovation and a gentle upgrade.
Using the original 1920s patterns and inspired by Edward Schroeder Prior’s Arts-and-Crafts Voewood, near Holt, Norfolk, they created the present 5,000sq ft house, a happy mix of old and new, adding a timber- framed extension based on a traditional Essex barn design.
Outside, they replaced old and diseased trees with new ones, renovated and extended the original herringbone brick paths, reinstated the 195ft private jetty and built a new, natural-stone sea wall to preserve the waterside boundary of the property.
They also installed a swimming pool, sited to give swimmers a private view of the river.
Tideways is for sale via Savills at £2.75m — see more details and pictures.
Credit: Jonathan Stone
Eight charmingly British beach front properties, from the Isle of Wight to the Isle of Skye
Dreaming of a life by the sunny shore? Well, look no further than our own gorgeous coastline, where many properties
-
The Georgian rectory that you've (probably) been waiting for has come on to the market in a bucolic spot just outside CheltenhamClassic Georgian rectories in the Cotswolds are hard to find, says Penny Churchill, so this example in Gloucestershire is a real treat.
-
Don't be a (beauty school) dropout, come and do the Country Life Quiz of the Day, September 18, 2025Today's quiz is the word.
-
The Georgian rectory that you've (probably) been waiting for has come on to the market in a bucolic spot just outside Cheltenham
Classic Georgian rectories in the Cotswolds are hard to find, says Penny Churchill, so this example in Gloucestershire is a real treat.
-
A classic oast house on the outside, a wild architectural fantasy inside, and just down the road from one of Kent's best grammar schoolsAnnabel Dixon steps inside Joldwyns, a house where even seasoned property professionals admit to being 'blown away by the incredible juxtaposition and the importance of the architectural feats'.
-
A perfect country house in 'the most beautiful and unspoilt town in the Cotswolds'Penny Churchill takes a look at the wonderful Kingcombe, on the outskirts of the charming town of Chipping Campden.
-
The dream home that never was for one of Britain's greatest film stars, back on the market for the first time in half a centuryAnna White takes a look at the beautiful Wallers Mead, in the Buckinghamshire village full of links to Hollywood movies from James Bond to Star Wars.
-
A 500-year-old cottage in West Sussex that's as beautiful as you could ever hope to see, with a pool ringed by flowers, stables and a croquet lawnJames Fisher was in need of some balm for the soul when he came across Woodshill House.
-
A Clarkson's Farm of one's own: Five properties with just enough farmland for you and your family, from under £1 millionMoving to the country is one thing; moving to the country and being able to grow and rear all your own food is another level entirely, and all these properties offer exactly that.
-
Six superb homes, from chocolate box cottages to grand Tudor mansions, as seen in Country LifeOur regular round-up includes charming home counties houses and superb grand country house in Ireland.
-
A billionaire's thatched cottage is for sale in Surrey, once owned by the oil magnate J. Paul GettyChestnut Cottage is a joyous little home — albeit one with the most unusual bedrooms to acreage to price balances we've ever seen. Toby Keel takes a look inside.
