Around Chobham Common

An easy-to-follow circuit of Chobham's surprisingly wild and open heathland.

NEAREST LOCATION

Chobham

RECOMMENDED BY
DISTANCE

3.2 miles (5.1kms)

ASCENT
147ft (45m)
TIME
1hr 30min
GRADIENT
DIFFICULTY
Medium
STARTING POINT
SU973649

About the walk

There are only around 60 species of butterflies in the British Isles and you can see 29 of them on Chobham Common. The litany of flora and fauna goes on; for instance, more than 200 species of birds live in this country or visit regularly, and over 100 of them have been recorded on Chobham’s lowland heaths. All this explains why Chobham Common is the largest National Nature Reserve in Southeast England, but it’s also one of Europe’s best protected wildlife sites.

As any estate agent will tell you, the three most important things to consider when looking for a home are location, location and location. That’s true for wildlife too, and for many species heathland is the ideal home. But lowland heaths can only survive in specific places. They won’t develop across most of continental Europe, with its hot summers and harsh winters – they need a more temperate climate, found around the western seaboard and on offshore islands like Britain. The geology is also an important factor, and heaths just love the acid conditions of Surrey’s gravels, sands and clays.

With all this going for it, you’d guess that heathland has a pretty secure future. Unfortunately not, for this artificial habitat is the product of thousands of years of clearance, cultivation and grazing. As agriculture has intensified, traditional methods of land management have all but died out. Many acres of heathland have reverted to scrub or dense ‘secondary’ woodland, which has relatively little wildlife value. Conservation of the Common is mainly about preserving the open heathland vegetation. At Chobham, you might see traditional breeds of cattle grazing, and also encounter more modern methods of management, including heather cutting, tree clearance and turf stripping, replicating the traditional harvesting of building materials and fuel. The last section of the walk crosses the eastern fringe of the Common, burned in a devastating blaze in July 2013. The fire destroyed 5 acres (2ha) of habitat including territories of the rare Dartford warbler, as well as killing untold numbers of reptiles, snakes and insects. The fire demonstrates how fragile and precious this landscape is and the importance of protecting it for the future.

    

Walk directions

Cross the road from the car park and, after a few paces, turn right onto the waymarked sandy track running parallel with the road on your right.

In 200yds (183m), you’ll near the road at a locked barrier; turn hard left here, onto the waymarked gravel/sandy track to cross the middle of the common. There are several crossroads and turnings, but keep straight ahead, passing beneath power lines, until you reach Gracious Pond Road.

Turn left onto the road, pass the thatched buildings of Gracious Pond Farm, and continue to the sharp right-hand bend. Keep straight on here, up the signposted footpath. After 35yds (32m), the track bends to the right; keep straight on again, plunging into the woods at a barrier gate and keeping left at the fork 50yds (46m) further on.

Follow the path as it climbs gently through a conifer plantation until, just beyond the power lines, another path merges from your right, bear right at a waymarker post a few paces further on. Follow the bridleway around to the left, crossing a bridge over a small stream, take the next left, following the blue waymarked route, and walk alongside a fence on your right. The path undulates and slowly bears away from the fence, until you come to a waymarker at a distorted crossroads junction. Bear right to reach another waymark post a few paces beyond a wooden sleeper causeway on your right.

Swing hard left here and follow the track as it bears around to the left for 60yds (54m) before getting into its stride and heading, straight as an arrow, in an obvious line across the open heath. After about 230yds (210m), take the first waymarked footpath on your right, and follow the narrow sandy path up through the gorse and over a wooden sleeper causeway. At the top of the hill, you’ll recognise the wooden barrier just a few paces from the road. Cross the road back to the car park.

Additional information

Broad bridleway tracks, can be boggy in places

Rolling heathland with some wooded areas

Keep dogs under control, especially near grazing animals

OS Explorer 160 Windsor, Weybridge & Bracknell

Staple Hill pay-and-display car park, between Chobham and Longcross

None on route

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WALKING IN SAFETY

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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About the area

Discover Surrey

Surrey may be better known for its suburbia than its scenery, but the image is unjust. Over a quarter of the county’s landscapes are official Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and along the downs and the greensand ridge you can gaze to distant horizons with hardly a building in sight. This is one of England’s most wooded counties, and has more village greens than any other shire. You’ll find sandy tracks and cottage gardens, folded hillsides and welcoming village inns. There’s variety, too, as the fields and meadows of the east give way to the wooded downs and valleys west of the River Mole.

Of course there are also large built-up areas, mainly within and around the M25; but even here you can still find appealing visits and days out. On the fringe of Greater London you can picnic in Chaldon’s hay meadows, explore the wide open downs at Epsom, or drift idly beside the broad reaches of the stately River Thames. Deep in the Surrey countryside you’ll discover the Romans at Farley Heath, and mingle with the monks at England’s first Cistercian monastery. You’ll see buildings by great architects like Edwin Lutyens and Sir George Gilbert Scott, and meet authors too, from John Donne to Agatha Christie. 

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