Along a Scarp and Across a Vale - An Adventure for Advent

Only mildly adventurous, you understand, the chief source of adventure being the wooded slopes of the North Downs, the national trail along which (the North Downs Way) we'll pick up just outside Oxted. We'll walk along the escarpment and admire the views of the Weald when the woods clear; indeed, the view is prodigious as the hills exceed 230 metres. Just after the Gravelly Hill viewpoint we'll descend to the pleasant village of Godstone which is arranged around a handsome green. Here, at The Hare and Hounds, we'll have lunch. The Greensand Way will take us along the ridge of that stone back to Oxted, but not before we've seen abundant timber-framed houses and rush-fringed millponds.

The sights:

Oxted: Mostly a suburbanised commuter town, built in a riot of typically Surrey-esque mock-Tudor stucco and timber framing. The town occupies a gap in the greensand ridge. The Greenwich Meridian runs through the town and Sir Keir Starmer grew up in it. The hamlet of Broadham Green has many pretty cottages set back from the road and Oxted Mill is late C18 and beside a pretty millpond. 

Godstone: Stretching along the old Eastbourne Road, amply supplied with inns and with a fine green, unspoiled by the heavy traffic. We'll have lunch in The Hare and Hounds pub on the green.

Church Town, Godstone: Where the church is. St Nicholas is mostly C19. The churchyard contains a notable sarsen stone marking the grave of Edmund Seyfang Taylor, aka 'Walker Miles' whose work in the early days of the Ramblers' movement contributed to the formation of the Ramblers of Great Britain. We'll briefly pay our respects. Old Pack House is exceedingly pretty with gables and jettied wings. A nice group of houses including one with chequerboard brickwork, but the chief domestic building is St Mary's Almhouses, 1872, by George Gilbert Scott (architect of St Pancras Station). Very picturesque, timber framed. Chapel is neo-Norman with a domestic-looking fireplace and an altar studded with semi-precious stones.

The route (please click the link in red to see the route, its distance and elevations, at the OS website):

Heading east from Oxted Station towards Limpsfield, we'll pick up the Greensand Way north and over the M25 where it joins the North Downs Way. We'll follow this for about 5 km west until we just pass Gravelly Hill where we'll use footpaths south and southeast past North Park Farm to Godstone for lunch at the pub. After lunch we'll go east to Church Town, then south along Church Lane before veering east to Leigh Place where a bridleway will take us to the A22 and over it to Tandridge. Here we'll find the Greensand Way which will take us east, then north back to Oxted.

Dogs:

I love having dogs on my walks and this walk is suitable for them. There will be some roads to walk along and some fields with livestock. A dog off the lead must be obedient.

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(All pictures were taken by the leader on his recce of the walk in November 2022.)