Surrey can sometimes seem as if it is just a populous, commuter belt part of Southern England, however there are many parts that I have walked where the scenery is just stunning and although always in close proximity to 'civalisation' the only sound is often a cacophony of birdsong.
Friday Street is one of these remote parts of the Surrey Hills yet just 6 miles from Dorking and 10 miles from Guildford and Leatherhead. Winding roads and a single track lane take you to Friday Street carpark a somewhat remote feeling as soon as you get out of your car or alternatively alight from your bus in nearby Holmbury St Mary. (a short walk to the carpark but check your map for an off-road track) The carpark is frequented by dog-walkers and it also serves as the carpark for the Stephen Langton pub, just a few hundred meters down the lane that we pass by shortly.
Leaving the car park, walk down the lane or take a marked track that runs parallel above the lane with a steep side and a few steps down before coming to one of the loveliest mill-pond that you could imagine, fed by spring water it is usually crystal clear and adorned by lilly-pads. Pause a while and listen out for .......silence! Turn right and take the small lane up towards the pub passing choclate box cottages where you could easy imagine living in happiness for the rest of your days! (no mains gas and mains drains before you ask)! The lane becomes a track that gently climbs up beside running water from one of the streams that fills the mill-pond. The clear track crosses a small road beside some more cottages and continues until a 'main' road that has a junction coming from the left. Cross over the road keeping to the right, along the road for a short while, looking out for a path in the woods where you can hop through the undergrowth and join, taking you away from the sporadic traffic! Continue in the same direction before doing another hop through beside a large tree and out going right ,onto a small drive for several hundred yards before leaving the drive, ignoring the path to the right, continuing straight on a bridleway before it T junctions with the Greensand Way. Turn left along the way and into a carpark beside the road you left earlier. Cross over an take the track marked to Leith Hill Tower......an easy walk.....it helpfully states! The track ascends, splits in 2 for walkers and bikers before reaching the tower, an impressive folly that takes the height of the hill to over a thousand feet! Please use the cafe that is open throughout the year as it could become a "use-it or loose-it" statistic! The coffee is 'proper' and cakes and snacks are brill. The views on a clear day are wonderful and even better from the top of the tower, so bring your National Trust card or cough-up the £3.00 to maintain this ancient folly! I think it is worth it but NT seem to increase the charge by £1.00 a year......unless it is just me!
Leaving the tower behind and continue on the wide track downwards for a little way before taking the broad track to the left in the direction of Wooton. The track enters into the beech woods following a valley with steep sides gently down hill. Ignore all paths leading off. of which there are several, until you reach Warren Farm on your right. Just after, take the bridleway on your right and immediately left on a marked footpath. This is just a diversion to see the tranquil millpond at Tilling Springs. I can empathise slightly with the owners of the pond but it's a shame the view for passers-by has been obscured by rickety fencing but go the extra yard and a view can be seen across this suprising Surrey gem! Retrace your steps and brush away thoughts of living in such an idilic spot which surely cannot be smuch change of a few of million pound, probably no mains drainage or mains gas and think of the gnats in the summer as you picnic by the pond!.........
We are now in Broadmoor, no relation to the infamous Broadmoor Hospital some 28 miles away. The village is home to some enviable country cottages and the National Trust's Henman Bunkhouse that we pass by on the right. Worth stopping and reading the notice board before continuing down a broadning track where it meets a country lane. Go right and take the lane with a 'private' sign to the Wooton Estate. Fear not as this drive is also our public footpath to a real gem....... a Surrey waterfall
. It's on private land but right by the lane offers lots of photo oportunities! It just seems out of place, with cascading water more reminisent of Derbyshire. There is a history to the falls and I have taken a snippet and picture from the web......" As for the builder he was a German called Jacobsen around 1740 as part of the landscaped estate around Lonesome Lodge which sat directly behind the fountain a little further to the north. To be able to build the falls, he negotiated a deal with the Evelyns (owners) to allow him to build the feeder pond, before cutting the leat along the hillside...." The water to supply the falls is from the Tilling Springs we saw earlier. Walking on past the wood yard and cottages a footpath sign and path on the left will take you across a lovely stream and fish-ponds before the 'sting' of the walk takes you up at quite a sharp climb, albeit thankfully briefly, into the managed woodland following a path, crossing a small road before ascending, but not quite as steeply, down onto a lane with a bridge in front of you. Stand on the bridge for views of the tranquil ponds and takethe inevitable photos but backtrack to go left down a clear track (right if you are on the bridge) besides a stream & passing some more choclate box cottages (read the poem on the gate of one of them) on your right before coming out onto the road again at Friday Street to almost finish the walk. Go right to find the carpark and of course, straight on to the Stephen Langton pub for refreshments. A short but most enjoyable few hours in 'secret Surrey Hills'