Writtle

Writtle has the green, the duck pond and the Norman church, the full chocolate-box kit, parked two miles from Chelmsford and sharing its postcode, a detail the estate agents set in very small type. King John hunted here and Robert the Bruce married here, possibly after being born here, and the village has had seven hundred years to check and has decided the doubt is better for trade. What it sells is a postcard with Chelmsford cropped out, and everyone buying it knows exactly how close the edge of the frame is.