Hadleigh Farm is an educational workingfarm andcross-country cycling venue located inHadleigh, within the borough ofCastle Point, in the county ofEssex. Themen's andwomen's mountain biking events of the2012 Summer Olympics took place at Hadleigh Farm on 11 and 12 August.
Hadleigh Farm is owned bythe Salvation Army and run as an educational working farm. It features a rare breeds centre and tea room for visitors. The 700-acre (2.8 km2) farm was purchased in 1891 byWilliam Booth as part of a plan to rescue the destitute from the squalor of London.
Hadleigh Farm overlooks theThames Estuary to the south and adjoinsHadleigh Castle, built in the 1230s during the reign ofKing Henry III, and one of the most important late-medieval castles in Essex, now preserved byEnglish Heritage as a Grade Ilisted building. A portion of the mountain bike course for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games crosses the adjacent Hadleigh Country Park, owned and managed byEssex County Council and aSite of Special Scientific Interest with special regard forinvertebrates.[1]
Hadleigh Farm was confirmed in 2008 as the venue for the mountain biking competitions of thecycling programme of the2012 Summer Olympics.[2][3] The original proposed venue atWeald Country Park had been deemed insufficiently challenging by theUCI, who were described as being delighted with Hadleigh.[4]
Temporary grandstands seating up to 3,000 people were erected for the Olympics.[5] Following the Olympics the course was adapted for use by the general public, with a new bike shop, cafe, and workshop and broader facilities for the farm.[6] A new mountain bike club based at the farm has been founded[7] and the course has been used for events including the British National Mountain Bike Championships.[8]
Plans for improving access to the site for the Olympics included the widening of Castle Lane and Chapel Lane in Hadleigh.[9] The site is approximately 5 miles (8 km) fromLondon Southend Airport.Hadleigh Farm lies along theLondon, Tilbury and Southend line betweenBenfleet andLeigh-on-Sea railway stations.
51°32′38″N0°36′32″E / 51.54387°N 0.60883°E /51.54387; 0.60883
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| River Zone | ||
| Central Zone | ||
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| Football stadia | ||
