Heritage open days – Painshill

Today we took advantage of the National Heritage open day which was running over the weekend. Many National Heritage, National Trust, private parks and gardens, and other places and buildings were opened to the public for free. So we had a little itinerary of wanting to go to Painshill Park and Claremont Gardens but ran out of time to do both. It was a changeable day on the weather front, with bright skies one moment and then sudden downpours. We headed to Painshill first and got there later than wanted. I think normally the entrance is around a tenner for adults and we could tell the place was going to be busy, as many of the cars were parked in the overflow fields. After so many recent walks across commons, heaths and wood it was different to be in a neat yet not overbearing landscaped gardens. We choose the longer walk which takes you past redwoods, a small vineyard (reminiscent of California), past follies, across several bridges, Turkish tents, a gothic tower, past renaissance residence, a hermits house, alongside open water, water mill and finishing off in the daydream of a Crystal grotto. It’s all rather pleasant and with a laid-back tempo, and an ideal place to laze around the water’s edge to have a picnic in the summer. Though you better not get caught short as loos are at either end of the gardens, and the prettiest spots are in the middle. This landscape garden is really nice, but due to a lack of infrastructure, it won’t be possible to do the full route for those with accessibility needs. It’s quite obvious this place needs a fair old whack to keep it going, and you can see where the funding is short when paths suddenly stop and you continue across the grass. As we were tight for time, we popped to Cobham Mill and saw that quaint English tradition of yellow rubber duck racing. It’s quite interesting to see how serious people took it, as hundreds of bright yellow ducks drift past the mill and round the bend. It is not surprising as the top prize was £300! It was a shame we arrived late to Cobham, as it felt like we came to a party after it had ended, with lots of stalls in the process of being packed away and the only sign that something else happened was the occasional gawkish child with face paint stalking the high street.

Whitstable and co

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Jane and I went to a friends wedding in Whitstable. We were going up for the Saturday reception in the evening and come back on the Monday. What an amazing and beautiful venue the happy couple had chosen. It was something from a Nicholas Sparks novel/movie. It reminded me of the North and South Carolina coast. Where you have a house and white picket fence, rustic lighting and flowers pinned to the walls, all set against the water. In our case the North Sea with views of the eerie glaze of the Maunsell Forts – Wikipedia in the distance. Well done Alan and Lorna, a wonderful day, amazing venue, so many clever finishing touches, which not only made it their special day but also made it special for everyone else. More information on the venue here The next day we went around exploring along the North coast. Parking always seems to be a problem where ever we went. We popped up to Reculver to the Roman remains, which must look striking from a distance when all lit up on a small peninsula at night. Though it makes me mad to see people just dump their Starbucks and Costa coffee cups inside the building. These are very selfish lazy sad fucks. We went to Birchington on sea and it very busy as the sun was out and the weather was really good. It is quite odd to see the amount of beach huts present. They seem to be just a shed, but renting and even buying them can cost mega bucks. I get it that they can store your beach paraphernalia, store dried goods and other long life foods and even house a small gas burner ring normally used for camping. But you can’t stay overnight, there is no water and no loo. I suppose it is like camping but only for day use. In whitstable we walked along the 750m sand spit called the street . In low tide you can walk along a small narrow strip of sand which juts out to tje sea and you have water either side of you. An interesting and odd experience which is a must do when in Whitstable. We went to herne bay too and then back to the Hotel Continental . A charming place to stay, which has been refurbished with comfortable rooms, seas views (with complimentary binoculars to use) a great buffet breakfast and a charming bar to enjoy a late lock in. We did spend an end of a night watching the lights of the boats and wind farms flicker in the warm breeze in the quiet patio area when everyone seemed to went to bed.

New Haw lock to Pyrford Lock

For the third week in a row, we followed another National Trust suggested canal walk, the New Haw lock to Pyrford Lock. This completed our trilogy of canal walks for the summer. The previous walks were Weybridge to New Haw and Papercourt to Triggs lock. Spoiler alert, this is perhaps my least favourite of the canal walks, as far too much time is spent within the earshot of the M25, which is something I did not pay attention when looking at the map National Trust map.

I do enjoy the lock walks as it is all rather pleasant with a slower way of life in around and water, however, this is occasionally spoiled by cyclists who refuse to dismount, slow down and are completing selfish and decide to ignore the rules for towpath cycling.

I have been to Anchor pub by Pyrford lock before, as it was part of my first date with Jane and just like last time we did not spend any time or eat here. Even though we rucked up at dead on 1 pm, we had not planned to have lunch or anything as we had other plans for later. There were seats available this time, but it still has the atmosphere of a busy and rushed place, as people in Ralph Lauren polo shirts and Hobbs dresses all clammer to get their Sunday lunch at the same time as their needs are the most important. You can further tell it attracts the middle class, as it has a doggy freezer full of dog ice cream only for canine consumption! Not surprising really, as you have Pyrford Marina a few hundred meters away. Although I am yet to eat there, I have now doubt that it be lovely.
The walk back up from Pyrford is not as enjoyable too, as you have to spend too much time going away from the canal and cutting through West Byfleet before joining the Basingstoke canal. Though the houses here which are south of Old Woking road (A245) are pretty immense and desirable and it is very noticeable that the houses north of this road are different gravy. You can almost feel the extra hundreds of thousands of pounds moving in the air as we crossed the road.
The final part of the walk along Basingstoke was quieter and yet surprising, as I never expected to see so many houseboats. Some are quite big and look to have permanent mooring to the land and have matching summer houses extensions as well as proper purpose built extensive gardens. It would be interesting to calculate the cost of these against a more conventional home, but I think I will leave this to another day.

Weybridge to New Haw loop

So today did not start out as planned. We both got changed to play tennis at the free to play court at Victory Park, Addlestone. However, as we left it a little late, around midday, both sets of courts were in already in use. Instead, we decided to go for a run around the block as an alternative and use this as an opportunity to help Jane with some rehab on her hip.

After a quick shower and a trip to Tesco to pick up something to be used for a packed lunch, we went off to Weybridge to start another canal loop.

From the moment the car was parked at Thames Street car park, you notice the lovely area and definitely how the other half lives. There was plenty of sprawling 4/5 bedroom house all with extensive gardens backing to the Thames or River Wey. The area was awash with boating activities from; rowing clubs, pedestrian ferries, canoes and canals. The two local pubs, The Minnow and The Old Crown at the start of the walk, both looked pleasant, although they lacked any real vegetarian imagination. In fact, you should take a moment to read the pub food times at the Old Crown as it is quite bonkers, with different times for different foods over differing days.

After crossing some bridges and even across islands! we took our little make shift picnic and had lunch at Thames Lock, and it’s immaculately turned out lock.

We enjoyed walking down the tow path seeing the wonderful houses and seeing the still waters reflecting the banks like a mirror. Passed posh mill conversions and also tried unsuccessfully to find a geo cache, though we think this is down to recent ploughing and building work rather than our incompetence to locate the cache.

After getting to New Haw Lock the return is not quite as nice, as it takes you along a quarry, a mobile home park and then a long road back up to Weybridge town.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Send & Papercourt Canal Walk

We went for a walk along the River Wey, which will be part of our on coming series of canal walks for us. I was not paying to much attention to the directions and annoyingly  missed part of our return section,  so I lost out on seeing Triggs Lock to the south.  However with my slighlty serediptious approach we walked along side growing cornfields and even came across Alemba IT Service Management HQ in the backwaters of Send Business Park. Ha Ha , seriously it is actually called a business park, when it just former tannery building by the lock. Well I am sure it nice to work though if you are local or drive in from close by.

One the things we wanted to look out for was the ruins of Newark Priory, which was built around 1180AD. I knew it would be on our left as we walked up and also that we would not be able to get access, as it it across a river on private piece of land with no access, but that would not stop us taking a photo. We actually walked past the ruins, as we did not pay much attention as we more taken by watching the long boats going through the odd lock or two. When we realised our mistake it quite dumbfounded how we could miss such a big thing.

When we got back home, Jane made her Vegetarain Quorn roast, which is always great,  as it is all the side bits which make a roast so nice that I can forgo the chicken or meat option.  We had spring greens, red cabbage, home made yorkies, stuffing, roast tatties, carrots and a roast garlic and onion veg gravy. All very yum.

Deepdene Trail, 5 August 2017

Today we went down to Dorking to try out a new(ish) trail called Deepdene trail walk. It goes through historical significant private gardens and Mole Valley District Council even have an app for the walk to provide an interactive guide.

We parked up the car behind the swimming pool by Dorking halls and started our 15 min walk to get to the start of the trail. As soon as we entered the clouds became dark and heavens opened. For about 10 minutes there was almighty downpour and we took shelter under some trees and bushes, as it would be pointless to walk in the relentless downpour. Although we were getting wet, we took the risk it would be a short shower and hope that we not be cold later and pressed on with the walk in light rain. We were not able to use the interactive app, as phones are pretty rubbish when the screen gets wet to navigate.

We could only read a few of the information points on the way, so we read something that about the Hope diamond being bought as a gift from one rich person to another, and that there was a posh home here but not any more. It was a shame not find out more information, but the weather kind of defeated the smart phone.

We walked up to the Deepdene Terrace and round the gardens, and i thought this can not be it, as the map on the app indicated that there was significantly more to explore. So in the end we opted to follow one the large trails which we marked, and that took out of the wooded gardens along country roads and across golf course.

There were some gorgeous homes on the walk, especially along Punchbowl Lane and the small collection of houses on top a hill called Park Farm. It had rolling trees, grazing cattle, blue skies, ponds and picture perfect houses. I should say at this pointof the walk, we now had brilliant sunshine and blue skies. We even saw the water evaporating from the roads and roofs, which give an eery atmosphere like some has turned on a dry ice machine.

Our propose route was cut short, as we he had to take small tunnel underneath some rail tracks, but due to the earlier heavy rain the route had been flooded and there was no easy way to get across, especially as the water was muddy and hide a cattle grid under neath.

When I got back home, I did a quick property check to see what the house prices were and around Punchbowl Lane has seen property costing 200k 20 years ago are now over the million pouind mark. Property has always and will continue to be the best form of investment.

Whitmoor & Rickford common

Today we took our selves off to the Whitmoor common and Rickford common, Surrey. These places are site of special scientific interest and south of Worplesden. This place is rather quite pleasant with a mixture of common and wooded areas.

In one open area there was an electric fenced off section to help protect animals grazing, however there was clearly gap in the fence where it has not been joined up to allow people to work through. It does make you wonder why build a fence if does not keep things in or out.

On our Sunday walk we passed the Jolly Farmer pub, which is part of the Fullers brewery. This place looks like a fine place to stop and drink and eat, but as we only half way through our walk we decided to pass on it. We were flabbergasted on the food prices, as it was £18.00 for a roast beef lunch and around £ 14.00 for vegetarian options. If you chuck in a couple of drinks on top, a Sunday lunch would be over £ 40.00. That’s just too much to justify and need to have little more of a special occasion rather than have a casual lunch. I suppose the traditional Surrey stock brokers wont lose any sleep on these prices, especially as this just a pub.

Hare Hill, Addelstone

After a lazy Sunday morning with pretty much not doing anything, albeit some minor eBay and housekeeping chores, we decided to leave the car at home and go for a walk and explore around the block. All made quite pleasant with pure Valencia orange juice ice lolly on the way.

We decided to head up to a little wood off the road at Hare Hill. It is very nice, however not that big. So you never more than a few minutes from the boundaries. We took our time and explored some additional paths to a complete a large block, which went through a farm. Afterwards we headed back to Ongar Hill for a cheeky little drink on the way back.

Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey

Today, we visited the former world’s biggest cemetery in Surrey, called Brookwood cemetery and it is still the largest cemetery in the UK. I have always wanted to the final destination of the old necropolis line which starts in London Waterloo.

The cemetery is listed as being a Grade A site on the register for historic parks and gardens, and it did not disappoint. Although we arrived quite late in the afternoon, it meant we could only explore the south side in our and half before it closes. The cemetery closes at 16:45 every day.

This place was more open than I imagined, with plenty of wild flowers and ferns. We even saw an ambling deer run past in the long vegetation. The cemetery was empty of visitors with hardly anyone else there unless you count the quarter of million of bodies under our feet.
I need to come back again and to spend more time exploring the wild plants and Gothic stonework and also to search for the old train line tracks which are on the north side. It is beautiful and different to other historic cemeteries such as Highgate, Abney Park and Brompton cemetery, as they are more over grown and over crowded. I suppose this is because they are London, as even in death you can not escape the crowds in the over populated city.

Chobham Common and the Cricketers Sunday lunch part II

Jane and I went back to Cricketers for Sunday lunch for our second time. We are starting to become a little regular here, which is not surprising as the other choices available nearby are not as nice by a very long shot.

We had not planned to have our lunch here, as earlier that day we had been out for a walk across Chobham Common and we thought we were going to have lunch in or around Chobham. After looking at various pub  menus, there was not an inspiring vegetarian option, everything  with the usual boring  primavera asparagus pasta, some type of beetroot tart or something with butternut squash. So we decided to go back to Cricketers, where we know they have a comfortable beer garden, good service and importantly great tasting vegetarian Sunday lunch option and as well as the typical meat option.

Jane went for the nut roast and this time I elected for the roast beef.

Chobham common is a little on the disappointing side, as the place is marred by the many stark electricity pylons running through it. The M3 splits the area in half, creating a north and south side, which means you are never far from the constant buzz of traffic. When compared to Newlands Corner, which is busier, has more people and the A25 on its doorstep, is significantly quieter, and you feel more like being outside.

I did discover on the day, that Jane has no ability to throw a pebble, let alone any chance of being able to pond skimming, as she has all the co-ordination as a patient going through rehabilitation learning how to use their dominant arm again after a tragic accident. I do give her 10/10 for effort but she her career in pond skimming is never going to take off.