“Despite a lifetime in Surrey, I knew nothing of the history of this lost estate with its tunnels and wonderful architectural features.” “Beautiful views and so much history.  A real hidden gem.” “Thank you SHS! Yet another really interesting event.”

These were only a few amazing comments from our lovely members.

Gail McKintosh, the Deepdene Trail Activity Plan Coordinator, talking to the Society members at the Dorking Golf Club.                                                                                         

Gail took us to a guided tour around the magnificent gardens.

The gates of the Mausoleum were opened for us!

The walk in the afternoon took us all the way to Betchworth Castle.

“The feedback is very positive; interesting and useful course. Thank you very much!”

“I want to travel more and walk in other countries and needed to understand how to read maps.”

The course started with a theory class.

After lunch we had a practice session under the rain.

The first picture shows Dominic North, who works on behalf of Croydon Council for conservation of the Happy Valley area of chalk grassland that we’re in, he also does public events like this on their behalf but turned up for SHS that day.  We’re standing in Happy Valley and after that walked towards the sites where the Downlands Partnership graze their conservation sheep to help manage the grassland to encourage greater diversity of the chalk-loving plants and stop the invasive scrub from taking over.

The photo with sheep would be Sean Grufferty, Downlands Partnership shepherd who looks after the sheep on this site on behalf of Croydon Council.

Farthing Downs is managed and looked after by City of London Corporation who own this bit of land for public access, to provide open space for the people of London to get out into the countryside.  They have many other sites around the outer edge of London. The pictures don’t show Farthing Downs, but our walk took in both sites.

Diane Cooper, our walk leader for the day

Excellent visit to a beautiful garden, full of magnificent water features, sculptures and luscious flowers on a gloriously sunny day!

Very interesting and informative tour with the head gardener, John, with history of both the house and garden – the owners, Mia and Graham Wrigley, kindly agreed for the whole of their fee to be donated to a local charity called Leatherhead Youth Project.

A group of enthusiast Society walkers enjoyed the stunning views and glorious sunshine this Sunday between Dorking and Leatherhead.

A big thank you to walk leaders Diane and Pete!

“Loved the walk – really pretty, interesting walk with only one small hill!” Susie, SHS member

A big thank you for the GASP people for inviting us and presenting us their project!

What an interesting and great thing for those young lads to be involved in!

We will try and give them as much publicity as possible.  If you hear of anyone who needs to get rid of a car, GASP may be interested or if you know of any engineering companies that may wish to take on one of the lads for work experience or an apprenticeship do tell them about GASP.

Also, if you know of any young people struggling at school, do let them know about GASP.

Chris Howard with GASP students and Volunteers

We had a really enjoyable day out assisting Chief Executive, Louise Miller with a day’s scrub bashing in the beautiful grounds of Gatton Park. The sweeping landscape, including a hand dug lake which was the work of famous landscape architect, Capability Brown.

The Surrey Hills Society have been supporting the Gatton Trust with their Heritage Lottery Funded Project during the last 18 months, to restore some of the original features of the park, as part of the 300^th anniversary celebrations for the celebrity garden designer of his day.

It was great to meet some of the people who regularly volunteer for the Trust.  It was also interesting to be able to view the new landscaping around the lake that the SHS had raised match-funding for.  As a treat, in the late afternoon, we were taken over to view the special Japanese garden which was once featured on “Gardener’s World”.

I will definitely be volunteering there again.

By Jessica Howard

Torrential rain cleared for our “Inspiring Views Walk” in The Hurtwood and Winterfold Hill, names as poetic and imaginative as the poetry and music that have been created to accompany and enhance the experience of the quirky seat sculptures on The Greensand Way, funded by The Mittal Foundation. As someone who knows and appreciates this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the viewpoints where the seats are located, I have to say that for me nothing more than that which nature has already provided is necessary, but thanks anyway for somewhere to sit!  I am all for keeping sculptors, poets and musicians in work and this has been achieved, I would add at the additional cost of a booklet (how many trees were felled for this) explaining what was going through their minds. The walk was delightful and the gods were on our side as the heavens once again opened as we came to the end of our trail.  The Surrey Hills Society brilliantly provides great opportunities to see, experience and learn more about the diverse aspects of this most sylvan beautiful county.

Heather Aitken, SHS member