Leaving a seaside flat in Tendring, settling into a cottage near Saffron Walden or heading out of Brentwood towards London, Essex is a wide county to cross with a full load. The Van Man Co introduces you to independent drivers based nearby who handle man and van work and removals in every corner of it.
Pick one to get started
A rough guide to the total time for loading and unloading.
Every move is different. Stairs, parking and big or awkward items all add time. If unsure, round up.
Extra loading and unloading time is charged by the hour.
Ford Transit Custom or equivalent
Ford Transit Van or equivalent
Ford Transit Luton or equivalent
Local man and van drivers covering Essex and the surrounding area.
Local drivers across every neighbourhood
Essex has no single middle to work outward from, so we find it easier to describe district by district. Chelmsford sits roughly halfway between the London fringe and the coast, and its own district reaches east to Danbury and south east to South Woodham Ferrers, close to the Crouch. Whichever council area your move begins in, we put you in contact with independent drivers who know those roads, whether the load is a lone fridge, a sofa or everything a household owns.
On the London side, Brentwood district covers Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone, which follow the A12 and the railway out of the capital. Here you find commuter terraces, station-side flats and larger detached houses towards the edges. Epping Forest district lies further west, taking in Epping, Loughton, Chigwell, Waltham Abbey and North Weald Bassett, with Woodford just beside Chigwell. Leaving this corner for somewhere further north? Harlow is the next hub up from Epping.
Uttlesford is the rural north west, leaning towards Cambridge. Saffron Walden, Thaxted, Great Dunmow, Stansted Mountfitchet and Hatfield Heath are mostly village homes and older cottages, where a narrow lane or a tight market street can matter as much as how big the load is, so mention parking and access up front. Braintree district lies east of Uttlesford: Witham, Hatfield Peverel, Kelvedon and Feering line up along the A12, while Coggeshall, Silver End and Halstead sit back from that road among quieter lanes.
Maldon district fronts the water south of Braintree. Maldon and Heybridge run into one another, and Burnham On Crouch is further out on the river. To the north east, Tendring holds the seaside towns of Clacton, Frinton and Walton, plus Dovercourt, Great Bentley and Thorpe Le Soken, while Manningtree and Mistley look across the water to the Suffolk border. For anyone moving along this coast, Colchester is the closest hub.
Down in the south, the A127 and A13 carry traffic between London and the Thames estuary towns, past Basildon and on to Southend-on-Sea. Longer trips out of the county are possible too, whether that means London, Cambridge or Kent, and the person who loads your things is the one who unloads them at the far end. Short hops inside the county, such as Brentwood to Billericay or Witham to Braintree, are handled in exactly the same way.
Not every job is a house move. Landlords emptying a let between tenants, a shop taking stock and shelving to a new unit, and families clearing a late relative’s property all lean on local drivers too. Tell us what is going, where it is headed and any stairs or awkward corners on the way, and a local driver can plan around them. Scroll on for the Essex towns and villages that this page covers.
Homes
Homes sold
Detached homes were the biggest share at 36%.
Getting rid of things
| Area | Most common home | Flats | 4+ beds | Rented | No car | Sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brentwood | Flats 45% | 45% | 14% | 44% | 24% | 99 |
| Burnham-on-Crouch | Detached 41% | 8% | 27% | 26% | 15% | 113 |
| Chigwell | Detached 42% | 12% | 49% | 18% | 8% | 54 |
| Clacton-on-Sea | Flats 39% | 39% | 11% | 60% | 47% | 100 |
| Coggeshall, Kelvedon, Feering | Semi-detached 37% | 7% | 34% | 28% | 12% | 200 |
| Danbury | Detached 63% | 6% | 49% | 18% | 8% | 89 |
| Dovercourt | Terraced 35% | 24% | 13% | 49% | 32% | 95 |
| Epping | Semi-detached 31% | 22% | 26% | 33% | 14% | 47 |
| Frinton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze | Detached 32% | 25% | 17% | 32% | 23% | 194 |
| Great Bentley | Detached 52% | 4% | 28% | 14% | 8% | 115 |
| Great Dunmow | Detached 37% | 18% | 29% | 32% | 11% | 156 |
| Halstead | Semi-detached 36% | 18% | 11% | 41% | 18% | 112 |
| Hatfield Heath | Detached 54% | 4% | 44% | 26% | 6% | 51 |
| Hatfield Peverel | Semi-detached 41% | 6% | 29% | 29% | 11% | 64 |
| Heybridge | Semi-detached 35% | 7% | 29% | 24% | 11% | 117 |
| Ingatestone | Semi-detached 38% | 11% | 35% | 27% | 13% | 66 |
| Loughton | Semi-detached 35% | 18% | 40% | 23% | 12% | 69 |
| Maldon | Semi-detached 30% | 20% | 15% | 40% | 22% | 54 |
| Manningtree, Mistley | Detached 40% | 10% | 25% | 26% | 12% | 92 |
| North Weald Bassett | Semi-detached 33% | 18% | 24% | 28% | 10% | 105 |
| Saffron Walden | Semi-detached 32% | 19% | 23% | 36% | 16% | 51 |
| Shenfield | Detached 63% | 10% | 57% | 15% | 10% | 99 |
| Silver End | Semi-detached 46% | 6% | 23% | 33% | 12% | 108 |
| South Woodham Ferrers | Detached 39% | 12% | 32% | 18% | 9% | 221 |
| Stansted Mountfitchet | Detached 42% | 7% | 39% | 23% | 7% | 105 |
| Thaxted | Detached 50% | 3% | 41% | 29% | 7% | 75 |
| Thorpe-le-Soken | Detached 53% | 3% | 24% | 14% | 11% | 29 |
| Waltham Abbey | Terraced 34% | 27% | 16% | 35% | 15% | 130 |
| Witham | Flats 30% | 30% | 18% | 39% | 21% | 164 |
Sources: ONS Census 2021; HM Land Registry Price Paid Data; recycling centres © OpenStreetMap contributors. Checked 11 November 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
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