About the walk
A circular rural walk from the pretty village of Godstone taking you on a simple loop through the surrounding fields and lanes via old mills and the adjacent village of Tandridge.
Route details
Please note: This walk follows public footpaths and bridleways which cross private and public land. Please respect people's privacy, keep dogs under control, especially walking through fields with livestock and remember the Countryside Code.
If you come across an issue on a public right of way please report it using the online fault reporting form.
- Start and end address: Godstone parish car park, free for 3 hours
- Car park postcode: RH9 8DU
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 4 miles, 6.5 kilometres
- Type of walk: circular
- Approximate time: 2 hours
- Accessibility: Kissing gates, stiles and some steps. Walking through a field holding horses. One road crossing and some quiet country lanes en route
- Facilities: Refreshments and food available in either Godstone or in Tandridge half way round
- Ordnance Survey Map: Explorer 146 Dorking, Box Hill and Reigate
Getting there
By car: Godstone is at the junction of the A22 and A25. The walk starts and finishes at the parish car park, by the pond at Godstone Green opposite the White Hart pub. There is also additional free parking available on the roadsides.
By bus: Take a look at Surrey bus timetables for details of public transport.
Points of Interest
Bay Pond was built by George Evelyn, an arms manufacturer to power his gunpowder mill, Leigh Mill. By 1611 the mill was in full production and even supplied gunpowder to the Tower of London. Today the pond is managed as a nature reserve by Surrey Wildlife Trust. Keep your eyes peeled for frogs, dragonflies and wildfowl, including great crested grebes.
Although St Nicholas' Church was largely rebuilt and restored by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1873, fragments still remain of the original Norman building. This area was previously called Walkingstead, but this name began to decline as Godstone developed. Today, the area is called Church Town.
Walk directions
The numbers of each stage of the walk correspond with the points shown on the map
- Start to St Nicholas' Church
- Stage 1: St Nicholas' Church to A22 underpass
- Stage 2: A22 underpass to Jackass Lane
- Stage 3: Jackass Lane to A22 crossing
- Stage 4: A22 crossing to Church Lane
- Stage 5: Church Lane to end
Start to 1. Start to St Nicholas' Church
From the parish car park cross the road to reach the front of the White Hart pub and turn right passing the pub on the left. Immediately after the pub turn left on the driveway signed as a public footpath to the village church. Keep directly ahead passing the White Hart Barn village hall on your left and the youth centre on your right. Continue following the fenced tarmac path which leads you past the large pond on your left, called Bay Pond. Beyond the pond the tarmac path goes uphill and you will come to a junction with a road. Cross over and go up the steps that lead you into the grounds of St Nicholas' Church.
Stage 1: St Nicholas' Church to A22 underpass
Take the path running along the right-hand edge of the church and at the far corner, take the path ahead which leads you downhill through the churchyard. At the bottom continue ahead to join the unmade path between fenced sections of scrub. The path leads you over two old bridges with a large pond, Glebe Pond, now on your left. At the far end of the pond follow the path as it bends, first right and then left, then uphill along a field edge. Over the fence on the right you will be able to see Glebe House.
At the top of the hill carry on straight ahead on the stone path leading you through a section of trees and out to a footpath junction at the edge of a large crop field. Turn right and follow the path downhill along the right-hand edge of the crop field. Just before you reach the power lines turn right through a gap in the hedgerow to reach a T-junction with a track. Turn left along this track and follow it as it bends first left and then right, passing the buildings of Leigh Place on your right. Keep straight ahead alongside two vehicle gates. Ignore the footpath signed to the right, stay ahead on the track eventually leading you through an underpass beneath the A22.
Stage 2: A22 underpass to Jackass Lane
Just after the underpass you will reach a signed junction of paths directly in front of Hop Garden Cottage. Turn right and follow the path as it bends left following the garden fence and then right, then uphill to reach a signed crossroads. Take the main bridleway straight ahead which soon bends left. This bridleway, which is fenced with beautiful woven hedgerows, leads you past Old Park Wood on your right. Beyond the woodland the path follows a sharp set of turns and then goes downhill. The path then goes uphill again, heads through a tunnel of trees and leads you out to a junction with Jackass Lane, with the pretty buildings of Little Court Farm directly opposite.
Stage 3: Jackass Lane to A22 crossing
Turn right along the lane and after about 200 metres you will be at the T-junction with Tandridge Lane. Cross over this and turn right along the pavement following it downhill between houses towards the centre of Tandridge village. Take time to enjoy the expansive views ahead. Towards the bottom of the slope, just after passing the double entrance gates for the blacksmiths and wrought iron makers (and about 30 metres before you reach the Barley Mow pub) cross over the road to turn right into the access track signed as a public footpath. Continue alongside a gateway into the crop field and stay on the track which leads you between two sections of crop field. At the end of the first section of fields the track leads you through a strip of trees and then bends right to continue between more fields. Eventually you will come out through a kissing gate to reach a junction with the main A22 road.
Stage 4: A22 Crossing to Church Lane
Cross the A22 with care, take the footpath directly ahead and follow this through the kissing gate into Castle Hill Woods. At the first signed junction keep straight ahead following the line of the fence on the left. Eventually the path leads you between hedgerows to a signed junction by the corner of a garden fence. Keep straight ahead and then keep left to cross the stream using the narrow footbridge over the ford. Continue ahead on the tarmac entrance lane passing the main entrance for Leigh Mill House on the right.
Towards the top of the hill just before the stream passes under the roadway, turn sharp right onto the signed public footpath between fences. At the first junction keep straight ahead passing a mill pond on your right. At the end of this path you will come to a T-junction with the vehicle track. Turn left passing alongside two vehicle gates and following the track which bends to the right at the entrance for Leigh Place. Stay with the main access track which bends left. The track leads you past the old entrance gates for Leigh Place on the left and the entrance for Glebe House on the right. At the end of the track you will reach a T-junction with Church Lane.
Stage 5: Church Lane to end
Cross the lane and take the steps signed as a public footpath. Follow the footpath between fences and it will lead you to a kissing gate at the edge of a horse paddock. Pass through the gate and turn left following the left-hand edge of the horse paddock. At the end of the field turn right along the bottom boundary and you will find a stile on the left. Cross this turn right for a few paces and cross the stile ahead to reach Bullbeggars Lane.
Turn left along Bullbeggars Lane and then you will arrive at a T-junction, turn right to join the pavement alongside the main road. Follow the road back towards the centre of Godstone. As you enter Godstone you will pass between The Bell and The Coach House pubs and then come to the White Hart pub on the right. Queen Victoria and the Czar of Russia are just two of the notables who are said to have stayed in the White Hart. Cross over the road to reach the parish car park on the left where the walk ends.
Map
The map shows the walk from Godstone village past Bay Pond towards the church. Then on towards Glebe House, the A22 underpass and on past Old Park Wood to Jackass Lane. Then it goes through Tandridge village and through crop fields to rejoin the A22. Then past Castle Hill Woods and Leigh Place pond on the same route for a short way. Cross Church Lane to reach Bullbeggars Lane and then the road continues on to Godstone and the end of the walk.
Select the map of the route below to open a more detailed version in a new window that can be printed if necessary, using your browser print tool. Alternatively you can save the image to your mobile device for reference on your walk.