Exploring East Horsley

Exploring East Horsley
Difficulty
Easy
Distance
4 ml
Duration
2 hr
OPEN ROUTE IN GOOGLE MAPS

This walk is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund,


Distance:  4 miles (flat 2 hour walk)

Start:  East Horsley car park
Postcode: KT24 6QX
End: East Horsley 
 

Click for a PDF of the route

 

Exploring East Horsley 

Enjoy this pleasant, fairly flat, 2 hour (4 mile) walk around one of Guildford’s pretty villages.  Include morning coffee, a pub lunch or afternoon tea at one of catering establishments in the village. Explore parts of the old Lovelace Estate, including Horsley Towers, once owned by Sir Tommy Sopwith, who designed the Sopwith Camel aircraft (among many others during WWI & II). The historic house is now a hotel and conference centre.

 

  1. From the East Horsley car park (NOTE: ///mostly.grape.piano) behind the parade of shops, head back towards the road.. Turn right and follow the signs to Horsley station. Go up Station Approach for 60 yards until you get to ‘Thornleas Place’.
  2. Turn right on the marked footpath and follow the tarmac path up the slope, where you will come out on a small green. Continue ahead. Join the road (Cobham Way) and continue ahead along this residential area.
  3. Go through the white security gates to join another road (Forest Road). Turn left and then almost immediately right into Norrels Drive. After 140 yards you come to some historic gate houses, originally from the Lovelace Estate.
  4. In front of the gate houses, turn left along the marked footpath. (NOTE: ///damage.first.noted)

At the end of the footpath continue ahead on the tarmac road and then onto a footpath.

  1.  At the next T-junction with another wide path (Old London Road) turn right.
  2. After 850 yards, when you come to a mossy wall (for Horsley Park) turn sharp right from the main track onto a smaller path keeping the wall on your left. 

(NOTE: ///wicked.last.happen)(This next section can be very wet in the winter)The track eventually becomes a solid surface with a wooden fence on your right. Continue ahead and pass under one the famous Lovelace Bridges) (NOTE: ///spicy.cigar.score). The path opens out with tennis courts on your right- part of Horsley Sports Club. Pennymead Lake comes up on your left and then you pass an attractive Lovelace flint stone house (Pennymead Lodge) on your left.

  1. At the junction, turn left into Pine Walk. Continue to the end of this road and then continue ahead through a gate and onto a track. Eventually you reach the stunning Horsley Towers.  (NOTE: ///delay.fetch.gallons.)
  2. As you reach the mansion entrance, turn left along the side of the house and then right, keeping the house on your right. Pass through a gap in the wall to enter the back of the house gardens. Follow the path away from the mansion past an outdoor gym, and an attractive kitchen garden wall comes up on your right.
  3. Turn left by a single storey red brick building, then immediately right, keeping the red brick building on your right. When the pavement curves right, (NOTE: ///closet.office.brings) continue ahead through the car park and look for a sign to St Martins Church. Go through the wooden gate into the churchyard.  (The church is worth a visit as it contains the family tree of the Lovelace family on the wall by the entrance.) Come out through the lych gate onto Ockham Road South.
  4. Cross over in front of Old Manor House and turn left on the pavement. (You could turn right and head to a nearby parade of shops and café. This is also a short cut back to the start of the walk)
  5. Turn right in front of the Duke of Wellington Pub. (This is a good place to break the walk for lunch or a drink or cross over to Thatchers Hotel, just on the bend of the road.) Continue on the pavement by the roadside (Guildford Road), passing Wimbledon Carriage Company on your right, then Polepit Cottage (Grade II Listed) 
  6. As St Mary’s Church comes into view take the “Deliveries access” track for West Horsley Place.  NOTE:///cope.chops.tiger. Continue ahead until you reach Place Farm House on your right. (To the left there is often a mobile café van in the barn courtyard) 
  7. Turn right onto a marked bridleway just before a barn and a car park. NOTE:///back.area.improving. Continue ahead with parking areas on your left and right. Stay on the main track ignoring all paths off to the left and right.
  8. At the fork in the path take the left path (which is nominally straight ahead) NOTE:///dwell.speeds.then.  When the wide path opens out into an open area take the track to the right across the open area (NOTE: ///fines.loved.pints) which then joins a tarmac path by a wire fence near the railway line. (NOTE///game.circle.invent.) Continue ahead until you come out by East Horsley Village Hall. Continue ahead until you reach the main East Horsley parade of shops again.
  9. Turn right along the parade of shops and cross over at the crossing to head back to the car park where the walk started. Enjoy refreshments or lunch at Quaiche Café or The Bakery or there are also several restaurants to choose from here.

 

 

Local Facts:

  • In 1837 William was created the 1st Earl of Lovelace, a title which came from his wife's family. In 1840 Lord Lovelace was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Surrey and purchased the Horsley Estate comprising 2,000 acres and the house designed in 1820 by Sir Charles Barrie for the then owner William Currie.  Lord Lovelace’s wife, Ada was interested in the study of mathematics and became good friends with Charles Babbage, the inventor of the 'Analytical Engine' the forerunner of the modern computer.  She is known now as the ‘Mother of Computing’.
  • William inherited considerable wealth and set about developing the Horsley Towers estate and the surrounding village in a distinctive flint and locally produced brick style. The Duke of Wellington pub was an early project. William also created fifteen bridges to facilitate the transport of timber by horse-drawn carts. The bridges were built where the tracks crossed existing bridleways or roads. Ten bridges (or their remnants) still exist.
  • West Horsley Place is a Grade I Listed historic house in West Horsley. The house dates back to the 15th century and is a timber-framed building. In 2014 the house was inherited by broadcaster and author Bamber Gascoigne, who turned it into a charitable trust in a bid to sustain the building in the future. It is now a popular visitor destination- especially since it was used as the haunted house in the popular BBC ‘Ghosts’ series.
  •  

Footnotes:

Start: East Horsley shops car park

Postcode for Sat Nav: KT24 6QN

Parking: Free car park (up to 3 hours)

What3words: ///mostly.grape.piano

Length of walk:   6.7 km (4.2 miles)

Public Transport: Starts close to Horsley Railway Station (Guildford to Waterloo via Cobham line)

Food and Drink:  Quaiche Café, The Bakery, Kirthon Indian Restaurant, Tara Thai Restaurant, The Duke of Wellington Pub, Thatchers Hotel, Horsley Towers Hotel.

While you are there:  Visit West Horsley Place for a guided tour (book in advance)

Funded by UK Government