Pierrepont Farm Family Day

Thank you for a really enjoyable day at Pierrepont Farm on Saturday. The children really enjoyed it, the staff were very informative and welcoming. I enjoyed seeing a real stick insect for the first time! Please pass on our thanks to them, particularly Annika!  WP_20150919_009
"Big thank you to Annika for hosting such an enjoyable and informative event." Chris Howard

Coverwood Farm

We visited Coverwood Farm on the 8th August 2015, not really knowing what to expect, other than seeing some live-stock and a beautiful garden. Yes, that’s what we did see but it turned out to be so much more than that. IMG_0158

We were greeted by the family (who own and run the farm), with a warm welcome and an above average coffee (not instant) with biscuits. After that we toured the farm on the back of a hay-wagon towed by a tractor that stopped occasionally for Tim and his father to narrate the history of the farm, and did so very eloquently and with some humour. The first stop being in a field full of sheep, where we received a short overview on rearing sheep and a few anecdotes of significant events. One of the accounts being the history of a very large house, which was once part of the farm but was sold off due to the need for funds to keep the farm going. The house subsequently had a number of residents, one of which made the international news channels by getting himself murdered whilst on a trip to New York.

We moved on to another field and were educated on the virtues of the Hereford breed of cows that reside on the farm and appear to be very friendly indeed (although they did try, with some success, to get at the bales of hay on which we were seated), even the Bull was a big softie. We were then taken to see some heifers that were ready to calf and some that already had calved. One of the calves was rejected by its mother and had to be hand reared. In fact it was the calves feeding time, so we were treated to the event, drawing Ooohs and Aaahs from the crowd and this also provided an excellent photo opportunity.

At this point we were all feeling a bit peckish and were pleased to smell the aroma of farm made lamb-burgers, being served from a fantastic American trailer (I think it is known as a silver bullet) suitably converted for the job. The burgers were delicious, as were the home-made cakes that followed. The lunch break gave us the opportunity to chat with the other day-trippers, some of which were local and were able to treat us to some funny anecdotes and interesting facts about local characters. IMG_0305

Our final visit (this time on foot) was to the incredibly beautiful gardens and lakes, made more interesting by the inclusion of a quiz that doubled as a treasure hunt, as we tried to hunt down the answers to the questions. This also gave us the opportunity to capture some photographs of the stunning features of the garden. From here we made our way back to the Silver Bullet for more coffee and those homemade cakes, before heading home. The day was made all the more enjoyable due to the perfect weather; it was as if it was booked especially for the occasion.

Joyce and Bob Clarke

An exploration of Ranmore and St Barnabas Church

The church is quite a treasure. Designed by George Gilbert Scott, it is built as a mini-cathedral in cruciform layout and has many interesting features. It was at the centre of the Denbies Estate and it served the 300 members of staff and their families who were employed there. The walk up from Denbies afforded some wonderful views back towards Dorking and across the valley.

Vote for The Jolly Farmers

Many of our members will have enjoyed the food and drink at the Jolly Farmers at Buckland, either during2012-11-27-The-Jolly-Farmers-7-ZF-6370-66279-1-0071 our events there or whilst dining independently.?ÿ They are now in the running for a national award which relies on people voting for them.?ÿ If you would be prepared to vote for them, please see the web link below which will take you to the details on their own web site.
Let’s all try for a Surrey winner!

 

Success for Surrey Hills Society riders who took part in Ride London/Surrey event

Cooper-boys-at-finishing-line-Aug14-750x750A big thank you to everyone who donated to the Cooper boys, Darren and Philip, who rode in the recent Ride London 100 mile cycle challenge on behalf of the Surrey Hills Society. They did the ride, in extremely poor conditions, but told us that they enjoyed the extra challenges the weather threw at them, saying: ‘The rain belted down for ages, we couldnƒ??t have been wetter, but the camaraderie of the other cyclists around us and the crowds kept us going – the experience was amazing all in all. Weƒ??ll do it again next year if the Society wants us to, and hope we might stay dry and get to ride all the Surrey Hills next timeƒ??. Their target of ?œ500 to help the National Trust install a drinking water fountain on Leith Hill has been achieved, but if anyone wants to donate, the JustGiving site is still open. Any further donations will be gratefully accepted, or cheques can be sent made payable to Surrey Hills Society. www.justgiving.com/thebrotherscooper

Two cyclists to raise funds for the Surrey Hills Society

Cooper-family-backgroundTwo brothers, Darren and Philip Cooper, will be taking part in the Prudential Ride London/Surrey Classic on 10 August on behalf of the Surrey Hills Society. Their mother Diane has been volunteering for the Society since its inception and is a keen supporter. The boys told us, ƒ??Having been enjoying road cycling for a while now – and taking on bigger and bigger challenges – itƒ??s great that we are able to compete on behalf of the Surrey Hills Society in the Prudential 100 miler. The fact that the route goes through the hills that are part of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that weƒ??ve known since childhood makes it really special. Training is going well and we canƒ??t wait to take up the challenge and enjoy traffic-free roads for a day!ƒ?? By day Darren works for a Woking-based charity, the ƒ??York Road Projectƒ?? as well as teaching English at a local language school. Philip is a self-employed camera and sound-man, whoƒ??s done a little bit of work for the Surrey Hills AONB in the past. Both grew up and still live in the Woking area. Darren adds, ƒ??The Olympics really got me into road cycling and I started to ride regularly with a club. Now my brother is hooked too and we both like to get out at weekends as much as possible.ƒ?? The money raised will go towards providing financial support for the installation of a restored drinking fountain for visitors to Leith Hill tower. The Society has been approached by the National Trust Surrey Hills to see if we can assist with their fundraising efforts and this appears to be a perfect match for our cyclistƒ??s sponsorship money. The fountain will provide free drinking water for the walkers, cyclists, families, dogs and horses who make up the 600,000 visitors to the tower each year. Weƒ??re hoping that people will show their support for this event, and the Leith Hill project, and sponsor the boys even for just a small amount. Please take a look on their JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/thebrotherscooper  

Orienteering with The Surrey Hills Society

SHS_and_Guildford_OrienteersOn Saturday 12 October I joined a very enthusiastic group of people at Newlands Corner for an introductory session on orienteering, organised by Guildford Orienteers and led by Society member, Marion-Payne Bird and her helpers. This was a new experience for most of us and after a short introduction we were given a chart, marked with letters and numbers and asked to find our way round a temporary course, set up on a grassy area just down the hill at Newlands. The children quickly grasped the idea of this while some of the adults took a little longer! It was a glorious, sunny autumn morning and after chatting over coffee and receiving more information to help us on our way, including how to use a compass, we set off in groups to negotiate the permanent orienteering course which starts near the Visitor Centre. We were given an orienteering map of the course with 15 control points marked as circles with numbers and one person was in charge of the “dib”. We set off to find the numbered control points marked by a wooden post and recorded our visit to each one by dibbing in the box on the top of the post, until we heard a bleep. From time to time we checked our location with a compass as we negotiated wooded areas and small tracks. At the end of the course we were given a print out of the times we reached each check point and the total time taken to do the route. We then realised that each dib had recorded our progress along the way! Many thanks to Marion and her team for a really enjoyable morning. Julia Evans, Society Member Orienteering_instruction