Ashton Court mountain bike trails

Background

In 2009 Cycling City funding was put towards a feasibility study to assess whether the trails at Ashton Court and Leigh Woods could be upgraded and what level of use they could sustain.

Following a joint approach with partner organisations including the Forestry Commission, the National Trust and North Somerset Council, funding was secured for this project and planning permission was granted for the trails in winter 2010.

The trails opened during summer 2011.

Work will also take place on a new trail centre on the site of the existing kiosk. The centre and the trails are set to cost £500,000 and will include a café and public toilets, as well as bringing golf and cycle hire to Ashton Court visitors. Construction work should be complete by April 2012.

What's happening at the moment?

A press release was issued in early 2011 outlining plans for both sites. Since that time, work has progressed rapidly with regular blogs updating riders on progress.

Ashton Court

Construction work started at Ashton Court during May 2011 and is due to finish at the end of July. Work on the Quarry Trail and the top of New Barn Wood finished during June. The advanced section in New Barn Wood and the Beggar Bush lane / Abbotts Leigh Road section will be complete during July. Rolling trail closures mean that parts of the trail are still open to riders.

The new course direction can be found below:

Construction work on the new trail centre at Ashton Court starts in the Autumn and is due to open in April 2012.

Leigh Woods

Meanwhile, work started at Leigh Woods in July and is due to finish in October. A route map for the site will be published later in the year.

More information

• Maps and documents: Below you'll find PDF documents showing the routes, plus an artist impression of the proposed new golf and cycle centre, and a list of FAQs.
• Social media: We'lll keep you up to date through blogs and our Twitter feed.
• Golf and cycle centre: If you are interested in finding out more about the proposed golf and cycle centre at Ashton Court Estate, visit www.ashtoncourtgolf.co.uk
• 1SW Project: More information about the 1SW Project to create six regional mountain biking hubs can be found at this news release or on www.1sw.org.uk
• More off road routes: You can find out more about mountain biking in the south west at our off-road cycling pages.

Downloads: 

Ashton Court / Leigh Woods improvement work FAQs (218kb)

Ashton Court golf and cycle centre - artists impression (47kb)

Ashton Court mountain biking map (243kb)