Super Dark skies... In Essex? Really?

[Simms]

I was shooting a wedding at a venue called Quendon Park yesterday - and as we was leaving we had to drive through a field to get back to the road - and the night sky was absolutely breathtaking! I could clearly see the Milky Way stretching across the sky - something I thought was pretty unheard of in Essex unless you went out to some coastal areas. Consdiering we was only a 10 minute drive from Stansted Airport it was incredible! So we stopped the car, grabbed the cameras (Making sure we swapped out the memory cards from the wedding) and fired off a couple of 30second exposures. In the one I attach below you have a multiple subjects in a single frame - including planes on final approach to Stansted!

The Pleides, Milky Way, Andromeda, Satelite (irridium flare?), Jupiter (bottom of image) and many more.. Considering this is only about 50mins drive from my house, I think I will be getting myself back out there sooner rather than later! Anyone else live in this area (Quendon/Newport)? I heard that after 12am they switch off the streetlights as well!!