Hadleigh Farm: An ideal day out

War Cry’s Emily Bright finds out why The Salvation Army's farm estate is worth a visit.

Arriving at Hadleigh Farm in Essex, I’m struck by the hive of activity. A group of green-shirted toddlers are out on a guided walk, customers are enjoying bacon butties in the Hub Café and the cycling rental shop is gearing up for another sunny day.

I’m here to meet the estate director Ciaran Egan to find out more about the activities taking place at the Salvation Army site this summer. The first thing he mentions is a family-friendly summer music festival – something that people wouldn’t perhaps associate with a church and charity. Running from 2pm to 6pm, each fortnightly event in the festival has been featuring a different type of music – still to come in the series are a DJ set of 1990s club classics and a covers band playing 1960s beat music.

‘We’re trying to cover a lot of broad bases music-wise – almost as a hook to get different people to connect with us,’ he explains. ‘After experiencing that, they’re comfortable enough to explore the other activities that we’ve got.’

Those other attractions include a rare breeds centre, home to animals such as sheep, goats and pigs. It attracts more than 24,000 visitors a year. And when it has taken part in Open Farm Sunday – an annual event in which people across the country are invited to learn more about agriculture and the environment – it has laid on on special activities such as tractor displays and demonstrations of sheep shearing.

For Ciaran, the rare breeds centre is all about engaging members of the public in what The Salvation Army does.

‘We’ve got a window from toddler age to seven years old to connect with people,’ he says. ‘And we’re able to educate people about the conservation of rare breed species in the UK while actively caring for creation.’

The Salvation Army is also caring for creation in the way it manages its lands.

‘We’ve gone through arable reversion on the marshlands, so we no longer farm that for crops,’ explains Ciaran. ‘We have cattle that are grazing the marsh, which will create a habitat for wading birds. Then, as we progress through the years, we’re going to see nesting birds and hatchlings.’

Hadleigh Farm appeals to many types of visitors beyond animal lovers. The 900-acre site offers plenty of space for physical activity too.

A track was built at the site to host the Olympic mountain biking events at London 2012, which many mountain bikers have benefited from since. As part of Hadleigh’s country park, which is managed by Essex county council, there are also trails and bridleways used by walking groups and horse riders respectively. Hadleigh hosts a weekly 5k Parkrun too.

For the history buffs, the site is also home to Hadleigh Castle, the royal residence of Edward III during the 14th century, which is now operated by English Heritage.

‘The castle attracts another tranche of people,’ says Ciaran, ‘who come along to see the views around the castle and the estate and out to the Thames estuary and up to London, then looking the other way to Southend and the pier.’

The beauty of the site resonates with Ciaran’s Christian faith.

‘For me, it’s a spiritual place to go – you can see the breadth of humanity while looking into the city, and you’re surrounded by creation in the foreground.

‘There’s something striking about being in a developed, built-up area, then coming down a country lane and being out in an abundance of nature. People experience something here. I envisage it as bathing in God’s creation.’

And, walking around the site, I’m inclined to agree that it’s a special place.

At the heart of The Salvation Army’s ethos is the principle of sharing the Christian faith through practical action. This is partly facilitated through Hadleigh Training Centre, which provides people with vocational training and helps them to develop life skills such as socialising in new environments.

One of the results of the centre is the Hadleigh Tearoom, which trains people in hospitality and front-of-house service, building their sense of confidence and self-worth.

‘In conversation with trainees, we worked towards a social enterprise approach,’ Ciaran tells me. ‘The trainees would own, operate and decide just about everything that comes with running a café. It allows them to develop a customer service-type skill set.

‘It’s a table waiting operation – so they are meeting, greeting, seating, taking orders. They provide a typical barista-type service as well. It encompasses a lot of practical customer service and hospitality skills. Then they also are gaining experience back of house, with the food prep, general cleanliness, dishwasher use, that type of thing.’

Ciaran has been encouraged by the personal growth in the Hadleigh Tearoom trainees. When I ask him for an example of people changing as a result of working there, he enthuses about one particular person.

‘One of our trainees had all the skills but didn’t have the confidence or self-esteem to deliver that ability,’ he says. ‘And the team were trying to build them up. That started small, with the trainee still articulating: “If we open to the public, I won’t be able to do this.”

‘The trainee then participated in additional days within the tearoom setting, so they could do everything within that operation and become completely independent. Now they’re able to confidently meet new people who come through the door, sit them down, engage with them and talk to them about the tearoom and what it has meant to them.

‘Life exudes from them. Eighteen months ago, they were physically trembling about the idea of being left independently to make a cappuccino, because they believed that they wouldn’t be able to do it. But now they make customers feel at ease, as the best kind of front-of-house person in the industry would be able to. Seeing them overcome loads of barriers – which they now realise they were putting in place themselves – is quite special.’

For Ciaran, connecting with people is at the heart of what Hadleigh Farm does. As well as interacting with trainees and visitors, the staff team also work tirelessly to engage with the community.

‘The Salvation Army at Hadleigh is operating a very active summer programme,’ he says ‘We’re trying to meet community-based needs around mental health or general wellbeing issues, which we can explore with people through relationship.

‘A number of families who come to our events, such as the music festival, might come to a more specific weekly offer, like our outdoor toddler group Tree Tots, summer days out, our self-led walks or family craft activities. Then they may progress on to a more spiritual, faith and fellowship focus.’

Ciaran becomes particularly animated when talking about Hadleigh Farm making faith more accessible to people through events such as “Muddy Church”, which uses nature and craft activities to help families explore Christianity.

‘Some people are expressing that this is the first time that they’ve connected with the idea of church, with each other and with something greater than themselves. They are able to be vulnerable, sharing things that they wouldn’t have felt comfortable sharing in a traditional church setting.

‘We’re a church without walls and create space for transformation. I have absolute faith that Jesus is going to provide that transformation. We want people to experience the light and life and love of Jesus.’