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Hadleigh Farm sits on the Thames Estuary half way between the resort of Southend-on-Sea and the container port at Tilbury Docks in Essex. Its commanding views across the river to the coastline of Kent aren’t what makes this site unique - it’s the fact that Hadleigh Farm is run by the Salvation Army. It was opened as a ‘farm colony’ in 1891 by the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, who had ambitions to transform the lives of London’s poor and needy by offering work, skills and housing.

More than 130 years later much has changed but, as Vernon Harwood discovers, the land is still owned and farmed by the Salvation Army. The estate now includes a rare breeds attraction, an arable operation, Hadleigh Country Park and a training centre for adults with additional needs who run the public tearoom. The location was thrown into the global spotlight in 2012 when part of the estate became the Mountain Bike course for the London Olympics and the legacy of the Games continues with hundreds of thousands of visitors to the parkland every year.

In this edition of On Your Farm, we ask how commercial agriculture and farm tourism fit into the aims of the modern Salvation Army and find out why poor harvests with low arable yields have led to a major re-think on the use of the wheat fields closest to the banks of the Thames.

Produced and presented by Vernon Harwood