Hadleigh Park (and Olympic Mountain Bike Course) - Childrens activities

Overlooking the Thames Estuary, near Southend on Sea, Hadleigh Park offers unrivalled opportunities for countryside recreation and wildlife watching, as well as magnificent views over the estuary to Kent. Extending to 152 hectares (387 acres) it is one of the largest country parks in Essex and comprises an intimate mix of woodland, pasture, hay meadow and marsh with old hedgerows and ponds.

Olympic Mountain Bike Course

Since the games the 2012 Olympic mountain bike course has been adapted and is now open for everyone to try.

The Olympic Mountain Bike course is 5km long made from crushed sandstone and was designed to test the best athletes in the world. It consists of almost 1.7km of climb per lap and has a number of sharp technical descents and climbs.

The course has been split into three trails, Blue, Red and Black with blue being the easiest and black being the most difficult.

The Multi-User route which goes all around the park is 9km long. It connects Benfleet station entrance to Leigh and up to the main Hadleigh Park buildings in a triangle, going through both the country park and mountain bike venue.

School Holiday Activities

Hadleigh Park arrange activities during the school holidays. Please see website for more details.

Hadleigh.park@essex.gov.uk

Hadleigh Park webpage

Park is open all the time. The café and bike hire/shop are open 10am-5pm every day and the main office is open 8am-5pm every day.

Opening times can change through winter. Please check the website during this period.

Free to use the park however there there is a car parking charge which starts at £1.50 and capped at £6 for the day.

A sensory room with an interactive floor can be found in the Salvation Army Hub, where visitors can focus on their sense of touch, vision, hearing, smell and taste, as well as experiencing wellbeing, space, time and togetherness. The room can be used by people of all ages and abilities for complete relaxation. It can be also be specially adapted to engage children and adults with autism or learning difficulties. There are a number of open days where the sensory room can be used for free, on all other days the sensory room can be booked through the Welcome desk in the Sensory Room Entrance located next to the Hub cafe.