Stansted Mountfitchet
Village Living
An excellent range of amenities means that Stansted Mountfitchet can satisfy your daily needs, including a food store, bakers, pharmacy, butchers, petrol stations and a post office. The village also boasts a variety of eateries, along with three welcoming pubs. The local area is well served for schools, and the village itself has two primary schools and one secondary school. Mountfitchet Romeera Leisure Centre on the outskirts of the village offers activities for the active under-5s through to 3rd-agers, including fitness classes, racquet sports and football.
Well connected
Stansted Mountfitchet has excellent road and rail links. It’s just 3 miles from the M11 (junction 8), putting the M25, London and Cambridge within easy reach. The village benefits from its own mainline railway station, which is comfortable walking distance from Foresthall Park. It provides frequent direct services to London Liverpool Street and Cambridge (journey times approximately 50 and 35 minutes respectively), and a regular service to Stansted Airport, 4 miles away. The airport, which offers domestic and international flights daily, is also accessible by bus.
Further afield
Stansted Mountfitchet benefits from its proximity to the ancient market town of Bishop’s Stortford, just 4 miles to the south. It offers extensive retail facilities including specialist shops, familiar high street names, supermarkets, weekly street markets and Jackson Square, an undercover shopping complex. The town provides plenty to do, with its multiplex cinema, 10-pin bowling and a wide variety of restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs. The Essex and Herts Community Hospital is also located here. Further afield but easily accessible are the towns of Harlow and Chelmsford. Both offer a wide selection of shopping, sports and leisure facilities. Indeed, Chelmsford, with its pedestrianised High Street and two undercover shopping centres, is considered one of the best locations for ‘retail therapy’ in Essex.
Past times
Stansted has a long and interesting history, much of it in evidence to this day. Overlooking the Stort Valley, settlement at Mountfitchet Castle dates back to the Iron Age, and later Saxon and Viking communities settled here. After the Norman Conquest, Mountfitchet castle was built becoming an important stronghold. The site is now home to the famous reconstructed motte and bailey castle and Norman village, an evocative and fascinating living history, rebuilt just as it would have appeared in its day. Alongside the castle is the House on the Hill Toy Museum, one of the largest toy collections in the world, with around 80,000 exhibits. In the centre of the village stands the ancient landmark Stansted Windmill, built in 1787 and in operation until 1910; it still contains its original workings.
Out and about
Stansted Mountfitchet, in its countryside setting, is surrounded by open spaces and more than its fair share of interesting places to visit. With over 1,000 acres of ancient woodland and pasture, nature trails, a fishing lake and picnic area, Hatfield Forest is the ideal venue to appreciate the great outdoors. Or pay a visit to the picturesque village of Widdington, where you’ll find Mole Hall Wildlife Park with its collection of exotic animals and birds, and the superbly restored Priors Hall Medieval Barn. The attractive medieval market town of Saffron Walden, just 10 miles to the north, is quintessentially English and boasts every style of architecture from the 12th Century onwards. Closer to hand are Great Dunmow, a small and traditional market town full of rural charm and history, and Thaxted, a fine town with a 600 year old timbered Guildhall and medieval houses. The neighbouring village of Ugley hosts a monthly Farmers’ Market in the Village Hall selling local produce.
