This ancient Market Town and garrison stands in the midst of rolling East Anglian countryside. England's oldest recorded town it has over 2,000 years of history to discover. First established during the 7th century BC west to town there are the remains of the massive earthworks built to protect Colchester in pre-Roman times. During the 1st century its prime location made it an obvious target for invading Romans. The Roman Emperor Claudius took the surrender of 11 British Kings in Colchester. In AD 60 Queen Boudica helped to establish her place in history by taking revenge on the Romans and burning the town to the ground, before going on to destroy London and St Albans. here in this town that was once capital of Roman Britain, Roman walls - the oldest in Britain - still surround the oldest part of town. Balkerne Gate west gate of the original Roman town is the largest surviving Roman gateway in the country and remains magnificent to this day.

Today the town is presided over by its lofty town hall and enormous Victorian water tower nicknamed 'Jumbo' after London Zoo's first African elephant controversially sold to P T Barnum in 1882. The tower has four massive pillars of one and a quarter million bricks, 369 tons of stone and 142 tons of iron, which work to support the 230,000 gallon tank.

When the Normans arrived, Colchester (a name given the town by the Saxons) was an important borough. The Normans built their castle on the foundations of the Roman temple of Claudius.

Having used many of the Roman bricks in its construction it boasts the largest Norman keep ever built in Europe - the only part still left standing. The keep houses the Castle Museum one of the most exciting hands-on historical attraction in the country. Among its fascinating collection of Iron Age, Roman and medieval relics there are tombstones carved in intricate detail and exquisite examples of Roman glass and jewellery.

The High Street near the Castle features many handsome buildings. Hollytrees Museum in the High Street is located in a fine Georgian home dating back to 1718. This museum on the edge of Castle Park houses a wonderful collection of toys, costumes, curios and antiquities from the last two centuries. Purchased for the town by Viscount Cowdray it first opened as a museum in 1920.

Around the corner on Trinity Street a former church Holy Trinity - the only Saxon building left in Colchester is home to the Museum of Social History containing displays of rural crafts and country life.

An arch opposite this museum leads to Tymperleys Clock Museum 15th century timber-framed home of William Gilberd, who entertained Elizabeth I with experiments in electricity.

Dutch Protestants arrived in Colchester in the 16th century fleeing Spanish rule in the Netherlands and revitalised the local cloth industry. The houses of these Flemish weavers in the Dutch Quarter to the west of the castle and the Civil War scars on the walls of Siege House in East Street bear testimony to their place in the town's history. The Dutch Quarter was of the castle remains a charming and relatively quiet corner of this bustling town.

Close to the railway station are the ruins of St Botolph's Priory the oldest Augustinian priory in the country. Victim of the long siege of Colchester during the Civil Ware when the Royalists, who held out for 11 weeks were finally starved into submission, its remains are a potent reminder of the bitterness of those times.

On Bourne Road, south of the town centre there is a striking stepped and curved gabled building known as Bourne Mill. Built in 1591 from stone taken from the nearby St John's Abbeygate, this delightful restored building near a lovely millpond was originally a fishing lodge, later converted (in the 19th century) into a mill and still in working order.

Colchester has been famous in its time for both oysters and roses. This legacy is remembered in the annual Oyster Feast and Colchester Rose Show. Colchester oysters are still cultivated on beds in the lower reaches of the River Colne, which skirts the northern edge of town.