How to Find Mill Meadows Local Nature Reserve


        The reserve is in Billericay, Essex, England. Billericay may be reached by road from the M25 motorway, leaving by junction 29 and taking the A127 trunk road eastbound for 6 miles to the A176, then travelling 3 miles to the north. There is no car park for visitors at the reserve, but off-street parking is available in the town centre car parks off the High Street (B1007). The reserve may then be reached by walking the short distance to the junction of Sun Street and Chapel Street where a gate leads directly into its north west corner. (OS ref TQ 675943)


        Billericay Railway Station may be reached by train via the Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria line. The reserve is approximately 1/2 mile from the station through the High Street and Chapel Street. There are also bus services from Chelmsford, Brentwood, Basildon and Southend to Billericay High Street. In addition to the Chapel Street entrance there are gates for pedestrians in Southend Road, Langemore Way and Greens Farm Lane.

       There is no provision for parking visitors cars on site, and although there is a small car park attached to the adjacent Scout Hall in Greens Farm Lane this is only open to the general public when they are guests of the Society at meetings held in the Hall. There are four points of access for walkers through kissing gates at points along Southend Road to the west, five from Green Farms Lane to the east, two at the end of Langemore Way off Hillside Road, and one off Chaffinch Crescent in the Mill Grange Estate. Statutory Footpath No.31 runs from Southend Road near the top of Bell Hill to a point in Greens Farm Lane near the Scout Hall, but there are no bridleways. There are numerous informal unsurfaced tracks suitable for walking including two bridged stream crossings, but at present there is no specific provision for the disabled although the matter is being given consideration. Neither cycling nor horse riding are permitted and there are bylaws in operation covering other unnaceptable activities. Dogs are admitted but must be under control especially when cattle are grazing between April and October. The part of the site used for grazing is ringed by a three-strand barbed wire fence. Cattle are loaded and unloaded at a gated "crush" near the cattle drinking trough near Southend Road. Part of the site is the subject of an ownership dispute and is not at present available to visit.

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