Just east of Billericay, underneath the Hanningfield Reservoir, sits the villages of Ramsden Heath and further south Ramsden Bellhouse, in Essex. Making up two of the three villages that create the South Hanningfield civil parish, these villages are rural and quaint, but dotted with a variety of housing types - from grand-scale luxury manor houses priced at over £1 million, to more modest detached suburban housing at the £500,000 price point. Nestled in the swathes of greenspace that dominate southern Essex, both Ramsden Heath and Ramsden Bellhouse marries countryside charm with suburban convenience.

Whilst today Ramsden Heath and Ramsden Bellhouse are separate villages, this was only constituted in the 20th century, as historically the villages were connected. Both Ramsden Heath and Ramsden Bellhouse were indeed recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book Survey for William the Conquerer, with a total of 56 households in the vicinity. However, it was recorded as ‘Ramesdana’, which roughly translates to ‘wild garlic valley’ and included other nearby localities. There is not any direct evidence to suggest Roman occupation of Ramsden Heath; although given the records at Wickford and Billericay, it is not unlikely that the Roman’s did pass through the village!

Nowadays Ramsden Bellhouse is known for its opulence and affluence, with a huge proportion of the houses in that area on the market for over £1 million. In fact, currently, there is a £3 million country manor house listing in Ramsden Bellhouse, a six bedroom property complete with a large garden, pool, and over 8,100 sq ft!

Due to its village status and its location outside of Billericay, development in the area is often slow. Basildon Council, where both Ramsden Heath and Ramsden Bellhouse are situated within, is still in the process of crafting their local plan adopted policies, and therefore no allocations to Ramsden Heath nor Ramsden Bellhouse have been made for the construction of new dwellings or infrastructure. However, there is certainly scope for single-use property development, particularly in Ramsden Bellhouse, where new properties are built and or rennovated from existing builds!