For our September outing we have planned a trip to a part of Essex we haven’t visited before.
We start by meeting our Blue Badge Guide at the London Olympics Mountain Bike course at Hadleigh Park, just outside Southend. We begin our exploration of the creeks at Hadleigh Farm, where we will have coffee and cake. The farm was purchased by William Booth in 1891, and this is where the Salvation Army has trained, helped and educated men and women who have experienced hard times. The morning coach tour explores a landscape off the beaten track between the estuary of the River Thames and River Crouch of lonely creeks, wide horizons, wild fowl, marsh farmers and oystermen.
We then make our way back to Southend where we will have some free time to buy lunch, walk around the town and even paddle in the sea!! Southend was the seaside to generations of Londoners who came as day trippers by steamer to the end of the pier, which is the longest in the world, and since the end of the Second World War many East Londoners have settled in various seaside towns in Essex. After our free time we will reboard the coach where we spend some time exploring the quaint streets of old Leigh-on-Sea, a pedestrianised conservation area, a centre of the English cockling trade and once a thriving fishing and smuggling village. Leigh fishermen became Dunkirk heroes and today keep alive Leigh’s reputation as the centre of the world cockling trade.
We aim to leave Leigh-on-Sea at 4.45 pm.
Cost per person £ 55 to include morning coffee, Blue Badge Guide, coach and driver’s gratuity.
Coach pick up times:
9.00 am Brockham (bus stop on Brockham Lane at the end of The Avenue
9.10 am Dorking Halls