Boxted offers several different reasons to stay: historic architecture, the village church of St Peter, the small Boxted Airfield Museum and a landscape shaped by the River Stour and farmland. If you are looking for a holiday rental, you can plan your stay around whether you would like to focus more on architectural history, aviation history or the rural surroundings.
Architectural history in distinctive details
The base of the west tower of the Church of St Peter dates from the mid-12th century; the church is open daily for private prayer. Pond House is a Grade II listed building and preserves part of a rare sooted kitchen from the late Middle Ages. Runkin's Corner is one of the region’s smallest Georgian cottages. Its high-quality oak timber framing preserves extensive areas of wattle-and-daub infill. Wattle-and-daub refers to the infill between parts of a timber frame; at Runkin's Corner, the infill is an important architectural detail alongside the oak timber. At Boxted Hall, the emphasis is instead on the floor plan: the house, dating from the 17th century and later, has an H-shaped plan. Its architectural history spans several centuries.
The River Stour and the rural surroundings
The River Stour flows through Boxted. The Boxted Bridge, built in 1897, crosses the river at Wick Road/Lower Farm Road. The village landscape consists mainly of farmland, interspersed with individual settlements. Old Boxted lies within Dedham Vale, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The river, bridge and fields each offer a different sense of the village’s character. If your plans include portaging at Boxted Mill/Weir, use only the signposted portage route: it passes through a private garden.
Museum and local activities
The Boxted Airfield Museum is a small museum on the site of the former airfield in Boxted. Its collection includes a Link Trainer, an early flight simulator. This adds a distinct focus on aviation history to the architectural history.
McLauchlans of Boxted farm is at 53 Straight Road, Boxted, near Colchester. The farm shop sells homemade jam and other local produce; the food truck serves coffee and treats made with fruit grown on the farm. Pick-your-own is seasonal: strawberries and other summer fruit are available in the early summer months, but the fields are closed for 2026. In Boxted, Sweetpea Grow & Play offers weekly Forest School sessions; extreme weather may affect the sessions. A Gardening Club is also offered, with dates subject to the provider’s booking arrangements.
Discover more destinations: Rivenhall, Chelmsford, Layer de la Haye, Theydon Bois, Witham, Jaywick, Heybridge, Warley.
For the wider travel overview: Essex.
