Colchester Golf Club

Colchester Golf Club sits on the outskirts of Essex's Roman town, a proper 18-hole course that's been here long enough to have proper traditions. If you've got your handicap sorted and a set of clubs, this is where you'll spend a morning or afternoon on well-maintained greens that demand respect without being impossibly brutal.

The course itself plays to around 6,300 yards, so it's not a beast, but the layout keeps you honest. You'll get some decent views across the Essex countryside, which beats staring at suburban housing developments. The clubhouse is the standard affair - nothing fancy, but functional, with the usual facilities.

This is genuinely for golfers, not casual visitors wandering in for a look. You'll need to be a member or get invited as a guest; it's not a pay-and-play operation. That means booking ahead and having your credentials in order. Allow a full morning or afternoon depending on pace and how many you're playing with.

If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Colchester Country Park is barely a mile and a half away, or Swallows Field Glamping Pods if you want something a bit different - and you're a regular golfer, it's worth checking membership options or ringing ahead to arrange a round. It's a solid club with a proper clubhouse rather than a destination course, but for the local holiday golfer it scratches the itch well enough.