Volunteering opportunity: Help us look after the Wildlife Garden at Newlands Corner
If you love the birdlife you see in our Wildlife Garden and want to help it thrive, could you help us by volunteering a few hours each week or month?
Please get in touch by emailing countryside.estate@surreycc.gov.uk
Newlands Corner, near Guildford, provides one of the best views from the North Downs in the Surrey Hills National Landscape - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is an attractive site in its own right. It has been well used as a stop off point for refreshments and a start for walking, horse riding and cycling for decades. In the 1970s, Surrey County Council (SCC) negotiated an access agreement over the site with the landowners, the Albury Estate, to provide public access to the site and install visitor facilities such as the toilets and car park.
In 2020 SCC Natural Capital teams took on responsibility for the management of sites like Newlands Corner, within Surrey's Countryside Estate. As well as delivering the council's investment in improvements to our countryside, this will enable residents of all walks of life to access green space.
Find out about Visitor Information at Newlands Corner.
Natural play trail and other improvements
The following improvements to the range and quality of facilities available to visitors of Newlands Corner is being rolled out:
- Now open! The Discovery Centre - with interactive screens and eye-catching interpretation, providing information about Surrey's countryside in general as well as the local wildlife you may see
- Now open! Natural timber play area - constructed from local timber sourced from our countryside estate. Located within the area between the café and toilet buildings, suitable for all ages to enjoy
- Now available for wildlife to enjoy! Wildlife Garden - upgraded with a pond, bug hotel and hibernaculum. You may think it looks uncared for, but this is exactly the habitat that visiting bird and wildlife needs
- Now available to use! The toilet block has been refurbished and upgraded
- Now available to use! A freestanding bottle filling water fountain - located near the Discovery Centre on the grass area in front of the Wildlife Garden
- New signage - as you enter the car park, self-guided walking trail posts, new information boards and other directional signage
- Improved picnic areas - located at various points near the cafe building with new and existing picnic tables, some additional natural tree stump and log seating
- Additional planting - enhancing the existing hedges with native woodland shrubs and providing additional screening around the play and picnic areas
We're proud to work with the Surrey Hills Conservation Volunteers who are members of Surrey Choices, helping manage access and habitats by opening up the views from the Newlands Corner car park and helping to create and maintain the wildlife garden.
If you have any queries on the above improvements, please email our Countryside Estate Team countryside.estate@surreycc.gov.uk.
Film crews at Newlands Corner
Film crews are often using Newlands as a filming base around the area. These are planned with our Countryside Events Team and the income generated from this goes back into countryside improvements and upkeep of sites within our Countryside Estate. We will keep you up to date when they are expected to be based at the far end of the carpark, but access for countryside users is unaffected.
Dates for filming will be added to this page once confirmed.
The Guildford section of Battersea Cats and Dogs Home plan to be at Newlands Corner from time to time to talk to people about what they do and responsible dog ownership. Drop by and say hello if you're up there.
Visitor centre consultation
Out of all the feedback received from the public consultation in 2017, the majority focused on the prospect of having a new visitor centre. The original plan was to bring all the visitor facilities, including the cafe and an education room together in one building, which would provide the indoor seating that's needed.
In view of public feedback, we have invested in upgrading and updating the existing Visitor Centre, which is now renamed the Discovery Centre. This has been subject to normal planning regulations and consultations and developed in partnership with current and potential users, including families, elderly people and people with disabilities, all of whom we are trying to encourage to come to Newlands Corner by improving the facilities.