Visiting Rayleigh – A castle, a cottage, a church, and a windmill

Rayleigh is a small town in Essex barely half an hour from London, and although it doesn’t look it at first glance, boasts a long history and plenty of things to see.
It has the remains of a castle, the only one in Essex to be included in the Domesday Book, an impressive church, a museum, a restored windmill, and long heritage trail around town, and… a very curious Dutch cottage.
When visiting, the best day to visit is a Wednesday, as that’s the one afternoon of the week that