In Pictures: The third Covid lockdown viewed from two Essex seaside towns

As England starts its third national lockdown, the BBC visited the adjoining coastal towns of Harwich and Dovercourt to find out what the restrictions looked like on a damp January morning.

A lone dog walker makes his way towards the Harwich Low Lighthouse

This bench, which bears a plaque reading "Happy to chat", lay empty on the first morning of the third lockdown

Home to about 18,000 people, Harwich, which has a major international port, sits across the water from Felixstowe, in Suffolk, which is one of Europe's largest container terminals

Harwich Sailing Club was closed on Tuesday morning. The windows reflected a view of the Felixstowe docks

In the 1980s, Dovercourt was made famous when the BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi! was filmed there. On Tuesday much of the town's High Street was closed as it entered the third national lockdown

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Those who were out and about on the High Street in Dovercourt - which is home to nearly 16,000 people - were either shopping for food or visiting pharmacies

It was a similar story at the Dovercourt's railway station, where a lone taxi waited for custom

Down at Dovercourt Beach, the amusement arcade was closed and boarded up

Having expected to reopen this week, Harwich Primary School learned on Sunday afternoon it would be closed by Essex County Council prior to the government's announcement of the third national lockdown

The all-weather pitch behind Dovercourt's leisure centre was empty but for a lone caretaker

While adding a little colour to a wet winter's day, Dovercourt's popular beach huts were all locked up

Although staff were at work inside the Dovercourt Bay Lifestyles leisure centre, it remains closed to the public

But for a couple of women enjoying an outdoor coffee nearby, the town's Ha'penny Pier - one of the country's only surviving wooden piers- stood empty

Recognised for its high quality beach, Dovercourt holds the coveted Blue Flag status. But on the first day of lockdown, it lay almost empty but for the occasional dog walker

Photography: Laurence Cawley