Action, protest, campaigns, demos and issues magazine features, photos, articles, stories photos of London, New York, Wales, England and photography features music, parties, clubs, events, records, releases drug information, harm reduction, no-nonsense guide punch a celebrity football, features, issues, cardiff city games, useless games and diversions technical info, web authoring, reviews and features site news, updates and urban75 blog urban75 community news and events urban75 bulletin boards join the chatroom search urban75 back to urban75 homepage
London features, photos, history, articles New York features, photos, history, articles Brixton features, photos, history, articles panoramas, 360 degree vistas, London, New York, Wales, England Offline London club night festival reports, photos, features and articles urban75 sitemap and page listing about us, info, FAQs, copyright join our mailing list for updates and news contact urban75
Boxhill and Westhumble and Norbury Park, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Walks in and around London homepage
urban75 featured pages

Box Hill walk: Westhumble and Norbury Park
A 10 mile walk around Surrey
(Photos © urban75, Feb 2008)


A Sunday afternoon circular walk starting from Box Hill and progressing through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common.

Leatherhead railway station, Sutton and Mole Valley Line Surrey
Sunday maintenance work meant that our London train terminated at Leatherhead station, where we had to wait for a connecting bus to the start of our walk at Boxhill. The journey takes 42 minutes from Victoria.

This is the first thing we saw as we came out of the station.

Welcome to Leatherhead!

Leatherhead railway station, Sutton and Mole Valley Line Surrey
The delightful Victorian Gothic architecture of Leatherhead station, built in 1859. The delicate wrought iron canopy supports are exquisite.

In the 1930s, an extension to Chessington was planned, but these plans were scuppered by a mix of the start of World War 2 and the introduction of a protection order on Ashtead Common.

Leatherhead railway station, Sutton and Mole Valley Line Surrey
The original London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) station building has been boarded up for some time.

top

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
The bus dumped us some distance from the Box Hill station, and we had to carefully shuffle across a busy main road that was buzzing with motorcyclist enthusiasts who regularly meet up at a nearby pub.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
The astonishingly pretty station of Box Hill, with its ornate tiling, polychrome brick with stone dressings and steeply pitched roof topped off with a Gothic weathervane.

Take away all the modern eyesores (car, bright red rubbish bin and yellow lines) and you'd have a scene that has barely changed in a 75 years.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Boxhill waiting room.

Well, I say 'Boxhill', but its full title is currently 'Box Hill & Westhumble' - and that name was only decided upon in 2006.

Since opening in 1863, the station has also be known as West Humble for Box Hill (1867), Box Hill and Burford Bridge (1870), Box Hill (1896), Box Hill and Burford Bridge (1904) and Boxhill and Westhumble (1948).

Incidentally, Boxhill gets its name from the box trees nearby.

top

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Flint and stone archway north of the station, with a blue plaque honouring the celebrated Georgian novelist and diarist external link Fanny Burney

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Adjacent cottage, faced with flint.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Heading north-west, we were presented with lovely views across the valley of the River Mole to Juniper Hill.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Following a bridleway path.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
We climbed through Druids Grove to pick up the main path higher up the valley.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
In the mixed woodland you can see beech, ash, cherry, maple, sycamore and hazel coppice trees. Not that we were very good at recognising many of them.

top

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
A warning sign at a picnic spot with excellent views.

We stopped off here for a quick snack, but promised ourselves we wouldn't tuck into our backpack full of fresh bread, cheese and apples until we were at least half way.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Across Fetcham Downs, where the walk heads in a south westerly direction.

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Detail from the barn at Roaring House farm.

top

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Farm outbuilding standing on curious concrete mushrooms (there are apparently called Staddlestones and are used to stop rats getting in the barns).

Boxhill and Westhumble, a 10 mile walk through Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common, Surrey
Cottages close to the farm.

top


« Walks homepage      Part two: Polesden onwards »


» London features
» Brixton guide
» New York guide

SURREY WALK:
Around Box Hill
» Polesdon onwards
» Box Hill park

« Walks home

OTHER WALKS:
» North Norfolk
» Abergavenny
» Robertsbridge
« More...

EXTERNAL LINKS:
Map location walk location

post up your opinion on the bulletin boards!

write to usWrite to us
post on the bulletin boardsPost on the boards

copyright infoCopyright
informationCamera: Ricoh GX100

urban75 - community - action - mag - photos - tech - music - drugs - punch - football - offline club - brixton - london - new york - useless - boards - help/FAQs - © - design - contact - sitemap - search