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A drowning on Clacton beach
PETER FROST sees a elephant god drown at the Essex seaside
The Ganesha elephants before being taken out to sea

LAST month I had a few days on the coast in one of my favourite and much underrated counties — Essex. 

One reason I went was for the start of the native oyster season on Mersea Island. These smaller rounder bivalves can only be caught and eaten when there is an R in the month so September marked the start of the season. The oysters were small but delicious.

To wash them down we chose a bottle of local wine from Mersea Island’s own vineyard. When we called in at the vineyard they were busy with the harvest, filling huge plastic crates with the large and juicy pale green grapes freshly plucked from the vines.

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