Sandylay and Moat Woods

Great Leighs is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Leighs, in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England, halfway between Chelmsford itself and Braintree. In 1931 the parish had a population of 728.

Great and Little Leighs is a civil parish in the City of Chelmsford in Essex, England. The parish includes the villages of Great Leighs and Little Leighs. In 2011 the civil had a population of 2,709. The villages was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, and was then called Leg(r)a. The parish was created in 1946.

Chelmsford City racecourse, originally known as Great Leighs Racecourse, is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Great Leighs near Braintree, Essex, England. When it opened in April 2008, it was the first entirely new racecourse in the UK since Taunton opened in 1927. It went into administration in January 2009, and racing did not resume until January 2015. Chelmsford City (known as Great Leighs at the time) was developed and owned by entrepreneur John Holmes and his son, Jonathan. It aimed to exploit potentially the largest unserved market in British horseracing. Overall there is slightly more than one racecourse per million people in Great Britain, but there was no racecourse in Essex (population >1.6 million), in east London (formerly in part, part of Essex) or in the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire (population >1 million). The new course is only 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Newmarket, the largest racehorse training centre in Britain. The course is laid out as an 8.5-furlong (1,700-metre) left-handed Polytrack oval, with a 2-furlong (400-metre) home straight.

Phyllis Currie Nature Reserve is an 8.9-hectare (22-acre) nature reserve north-west of Great Leighs in Essex. It is owned and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.This site is named after Mrs Phyllis Currie, who bequeathed it to the trust. It has diverse habitats, with grassland, a lake, woodland and ditches. Birds include kingfishers and grey herons, and 23 species of butterflies and 13 of dragonflies and damselflies have been recorded.There is access from Dumney Lane.

The River Ter SSSI is a stretch of the River Ter and its banks south of Great Leighs in Essex which has been designated a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.According to the Natural England citation: This reach of the River Ter is representative of a lowland stream with a distinctive floor regime. It is flashy, draining a low-lying catchment on glacial till, and has a very low base flow discharge but high flood peaks; daily, monthly and annual flow variability are also high. In addition the site demonstrates characteristic features of a lowland stream including pool-riffle sequences, bank erosion, bedload transport and dimensional adjustments to flooding frequency.Most of the river is inaccessible as it is surrounded by dense vegetation, but a footpath runs through an area of the north bank, east of the road called Cole Hill, which is within the SSSI.

Lyons Hall is a Grade II listed house in Great Leighs, Essex. The house dates to the 15th century. The house has been home to the Tritton banking family for many years, and Joseph Herbert Tritton died there in 1923.

Young's End is a hamlet in the Braintree district of Essex, England. The population of the hamlet is included in the civil parish of Black Notley. It is located along the former A131 road between Great Notley and Great Leighs.

Little Leighs is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Leighs, in the Chelmsford district in the English county of Essex. In 1931 the parish had a population of 158. On 1 April 1949 the parish was abolished and merged with Great Leighs to form "Great and Little Leighs".Little Leighs lies beside the River Ter, just south of the village of Great Leighs. Until rerouting bypassed the village, Little Leighs was on the A131 road. The church in the village is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Built of flint rubble, the fabric of the structure dates back at least as far as the early twelfth century.

Rank's Green or Ranks Green is a hamlet in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. Other nearby settlements include the town of Braintree and the villages of Great Leighs and Fairstead and the hamlet of Gubbion's Green.

Fuller Street is a hamlet in the civil parish of Fairstead and the Braintree District of Essex, England. The hamlet's public house is the Square and Compasses. There are two timber framed and plastered Grade II listed houses in Fuller Street: The Herons dating to the 17th century, and The Stores to c.1590.

Chatham Green is a hamlet in the civil parish of Little Waltham and the Chelmsford district of Essex, England. The hamlet is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north from Little Waltham village, and approximately 4 miles (6 km) north from the county town of Chelmsford. Chatham Green is adjacent to the A131 road, which runs to the A130, combined being the road from Braintree to Chelmsford. Chatham Green's public house and restaurant is The Windmill. Within the hamlet are twelve Grade II listed houses and cottages. Chatham was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cetham.

Cuckoo Wood is a 2.5 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Braintree in Essex. It is owned by Braintree District Council and managed by Essex County Council as an educational resource.The site has amenity grassland, meadows, woods, lakes, ponds, ditches and hedgerows. It has some locally rare species, and is described by Natural England as a very good habitat for fungi, due to a large amount of dead wood.The site is not open to the public.