On Thursday 14th August, 27 members made a visit to Brightleigh Farm, in Outwood, for a walking guided tour of the farm and an introduction to their animals.

Nigel Franklin and his family run Brightleigh Farm and are passionate about farming with nature, using regenerative farming methods, producing tasty and nutritious food. Their animals thrive in this environment, and rarely need any form of treatment to keep them healthy.

Their beef comes from their Pasture for Life certified cattle, which guarantees that they are fed a natural diet. Their chickens forage outdoors, supplemented with a soya and GM free diet.  The eggs they produce are high in vitamins A , E and D , as well as Omega 3.

The afternoon started with a 15 minute introduction followed by the guided walk, with questions and answers as we walked. Brightleigh Farm has Cows, Pigs and Chickens (with dogs that have the specific responsibility of looking after the Chickens !! ).

We also had the opportunity to visit the Batts Hill Gin Distillery, which is within the farm, and sample a little of their products. Gin & Tonic anyone ?? Some of us took the opportunity to make some purchases.

Also, within the farm Julie Fitch Davey transformed the old cow shed into a comfortable working environment where she now creates her products in the Ceramic Fitch Pottery.  Julie demonstrated throwing a pot on the wheel and she told us about their glazing process.

Although a small establishment, Julie has a lot of items on show, and as hand crafted items, every item is unique. All items are stoneware clay of which 50% is recycled.

On return to the barn, we were treated to a BBQ featuring their produce (Burgers, Chicken Wings and Smoked Topside Baguettes, all with salad). A thoroughly enjoyable and informative afternoon, I’m sure that everyone there enjoyed it too.

Their shop at the farm is open on Friday 1pm to 5pm. Saturday 9am to 3pm. They can also be found at the following Farmers Markets : Farnham , Ripley and Wallington.  Before travelling, check their website.

Ray and Joyce Jessop

Our day started with coffee and biscuits at Sondes Place Farm is a 320 acre mixed farm located between Dorking and Westcott. It’s currently managed by Hugh Broom who is part of the 4th generation to farm the land, which was first acquired in 1897.

Hugh was rightly very proud to tell us that they had introduced over 2500 metres of new hedgerows, created 3 wildlife ponds, maintained over 5Km of 6 metre wide field margins, which act as wildlife corridors.  He went on to explain that he had pollarded over 100 waterside trees, in order to open up the area around the PippBrook stream. This has created a much lighter environment, allowing a greater variety of plant and animal species to thrive.

Then we set off for Denbies, where we enjoyed a glass of their delicious Surrey Gold wine whiilst watching “The Vineyard Through the Seasons,” shown in their cinema which gave us an overview of the vineyard’s workings.

Lunch was served in the Gallery Restaurant and afterwards we went to see the community garden and sculptural bench called Radius, part of the Inspiring Views project.  Ali Clark, Programme Manager of Surrey Hills Arts told us about the artist and how the bench is engraved with poems written by local poets and inscriptions from members of the public who helped fund the bench. The views from the bench right across to Leith Hill and Box Hill nearer by are truly inspiring.

At the Community Garden we heard from Society employees, India and Katie, who gave a fascinating explanation of the work that they are doing in relation Growing Together and our Care Farm project which you can read more about here.

A snippet of some of the feedback we have received include:

“Please pass on my congratulations to everyone concerned with the day…”
“I had a great day – Thank you Surrey Hills Society.”
“Please pass on our thanks to Gordon. All in all a good day from start to finish.”

Julia Gregory
Reporter BBC Surrey – Article published on Wednesday 14 May 2025

Young people have a chance to meet farm animals

On a farm nestled in the Surrey Hills, young people are helping herd cows and build pens so they can be wormed.

They are spending time on Pondtail Farm in Brockham, near Box Hill, to help boost their mental health as part of the Care Farm project.

Katie Daw, the Surrey Hills Society Care Farm co-ordinator, said the scheme was boosting young people’s confidence and wellbeing, and reducing anxiety.

To read the full article, please click here

If you would like more information regarding our Care Farm Project, please visit the Projects Page on the our website and click here.

SPRING FAIR AT TILFORD

On 5th and 6th April, our Surrey Hills Society volunteers were busy at the Surrey Hills Spring Fair at the Rural Life Centre, Tilford.

The volunteers were kept busy all weekend handing out our walks leaflets, promoting our projects and encouraging people to join our charity.

The show was blessed with wonderful weather and is a great place for all the family.

It was a great start to the Surrey Hills summer of events, volunteering projects, walks, talks and interesting visit to farms, attractions and hidden gems in the Surrey Hills.

Thank you all very much.

If anyone is interesting in volunteering, please take a look at our website, there are all sorts of opportunities – please click here.

We are delighted to have announced the winners of our ‘Thousand Year Tree Endpapers Design Competition’ which was launched during the summer through Surrey’s Library Network.

On Saturday 19th October the 24 shortlisted winners were invited to an awards ceremony, where the winners of each age category were announced by multi-award-winning children’s author Kes Gray. The shortlisted children were then invited to stay for Guildford Book Festival’s event with Kes Gray featuring his Oi Dinosaur! series.

Over 600 children entered the competition across Surrey and a huge thank you to Surrey’s Libraries and Surrey County Council’s Environment Team for helping to promote the competition and collate the entries.

The book will be on general sale shortly* and as soon as we have the details, these will be shown on our website at www.surreyhillssociety.org.
This may take 2/3 weeks, but we will do it as soon as we possibly can.  Keep your eyes peeled for the opportunity to purchase the book – a perfect Christmas gift!

* Now available click here to get straight through to Waterstones to purchase your copy for £8.99.

The Thousand Year Tree is a stunning new picture book, created by the children of Weyfield Primary Academy Guildford to celebrate the ancient yew trees at Newlands Corner, Surrey!

An incredible journey through time, from seed to fragile giant – step inside the fascinating world of ancient trees to discover the wonders these age-old giants have witnessed, and how we can protect them for millennia to come.

The Thousand Year Tree has been created through an exciting collaboration led by the Surrey Hills Society, together with the Guildford Book Festival; Weyfield Primary Academy; author, Lucy Reynolds; illustrator, Katie Hickey; Old Dungate Press; Surrey County Council; Surrey Libraries; and Surrey National Landscapes. The project has been funded by the DEFRA Access For All Fund, administered by the Surrey National Landscapes Board.

Last Saturday, 22 June 34 members enjoyed a serene glide along the Wey & Arun Canal whilst enjoying a chat, cuppa and cake.  A volunteer provided information about the canal and also about the flora and fauna to be found riverside.  The weather was glorious and, as you can see, everyone had a jolly good time.

One of the guests asked why there were no ducks or other birdlife on the canal, the answer is sadly – Minks!  Since their release they have bred uncontrollably and being aggressive carnivores will and do eat everything.

The safety instructions from the crew were that in the unlikely event you were to fall in they would shout  ”STAND UP” – the water is only a few feet deep.

Thanks go to Heather Aitken for organising this event and to Gordon Jackson for the photographs.

On Sunday 9th June, The Amber Foundation held its Hike on the Hill tackling Box Hill as part of a stunning 10km route while fundraising for Amber’s work.  Christa Emmett, our Project and Volunteer Manager, organised the route and led the group.

Amber supports young adults (aged 18-30) facing complex problems and offer homeless support to transform their lives by helping them move away from homelessness, out of unemployment and work towards better, brighter and healthier futures.  Amber have four centres and their third centre is Farm Place which opened in April 2010.  Near Horsham and Dorking, Farm Place enjoys a parkland setting in 9 acres of grounds in the Surrey Weald.

Together they have fundraised a bed space at Farm Place for a young homeless person to transform their life.  The group covered around 12km, 16,000 steps, equivalent to 63 flights of stairs and raised (so far!) £5,670 towards a bed space and thank everyone for their support and kindness.  Louise Cheung, Fundraising Manager for Amber.

On Monday 10 June we organised another successful visit to Goddards, one of Lutyens most important early houses built in traditional Surrey style.

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The house and gardens remain unaltered and unspoilt and the house hase many interesting and quirky features and with the furniture still intact.

The famous indoor skittle alley was built to amuse the” ladies of small means” who repaired there for a holiday.

Beautiful gardens including the courtyard garden designed by Lutyens and planted by Gertrude Jekyll restored using her original plants.

Many thanks to Chris Abbott for the photographs.

Mark and Virginia Turner