Doug & Jodie

Last weekend Doug and I took advantage of what was certainly the last warm sunny weekend this year. We caught a train Sunday morning to Guildford in Surrey, approx. 40 minutes from Waterloo Station. Here we put to use our Time Out ‘Country Walks near London’ guide and set off on a 10km walk to Gomshall via Shere. We first walked through the centre of Guildford, a lovely surrey village then climbed a steep street, stopping off at the pretty gardens and ruins of Guildford Caste. Further up the hill past some huge bungalow homes we entered an open field (Pewley downs) with stunning views across the countryside. From here we walked through paddocks, lanes and bridle trails, all open to the public but part of privately owned land so we were literally walking through people’s farms. Out first stop was the Church of St. Martha-on-the-Hill at the summit of a ridge, this church was formerly a stop on the Pilgrim’s Way to Canterbury and was restored in the 19^th Century. Here we ate our M&S picnic lunch sitting on a bench overlooking the valley and watching the many families with young kids and dogs hike by. We marched on past fields of rabbits, deer, horses and sheep, a farm with a ginormous pig as big as a small car and passed through more farms along hedge-rowed paths full of blackberries – it was an idyllic English Spring day. Finally we came to Shere, known as the prettiest village in Surrey.

Here we fed the ducks on the stream and strolled through town past the church of St James – dated from 1190 and a rare example of a church constructed entirely in the Early English Transitional Style. Finally we ended in Gomshall and had to wait an hour for a train back to Guildford then home to London. This one day was definitely worth the price of this Time Out guide – highly recommended, the directions were incredibly precise down to the tiniest detail and we had another magical day away from hectic London life.