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Thaxted sits on a hill in the north-west of Essex, roughly six miles up the road from Great Dunmow. It’s a town that still follows its medieval street plan, with the 14th-century church of St John the Baptist and the timber-framed Guildhall acting as the main landmarks. Historically, the town’s prosperity came from the cutlery trade and later from wool, which explains the scale of the architecture for what is now a relatively quiet community. For daily practicalities, the high street has a decent range of independent shops and a small weekly market, though for a wider choice of supermarkets or rail links to London and Cambridge, most people head to Saffron Walden or Elsenham. It is a geographically well-placed spot if you need access to Stansted Airport, which is about fifteen minutes away by car, yet the town remains remarkably shielded from the flight paths, keeping its sense of being a proper, working rural outpost.