VAL Varney calls her town "my piece of heaven".

She loves being close to the beach and the way her neighbours always have time for a chat.

She is also proud of the fact that she might as well not have a television, with all the activities that are available on her doorstep.

But she gets "extremely cross" that she needs to defend her town to people who focus on its negative points.

Val lives in the much-maligned Brooklands area of Jaywick, one of Tendring's most deprived wards and the subject of lots of negative publicity. Despite this, she says relocating there was the best move she ever made.