Around Holmwood Common

Visit Holmwood today and you’ll find a peaceful tangle of woodland, bracken and grass, with Fourwents Pond glistening calmly in the southeast corner of the common. Pretty much what you’d expect from an area that’s been in the hands of the National Trust since 1956. Nevertheless, the common has a more turbulent history than you might guess.

From the notice board in the car park, bear right to walk along the waterside path of Fourwents Pond, keeping the pond on your left. At the far corner of the pond cross a small plank bridge, walk through the smaller Fourwents Mill Road car park and turn right into Mill Road. After 400yds (366m), take the second turning right up the lane, signposted ‘Gable End, Applegarth and Went Cottage’; then, 30yds (27m) further on, fork left onto the public footpath. Continue under a set of power lines, then follow the orange waymarks, signed to Viewpoint and Mill Road car park, at the parting of two rough gravel tracks bearing right. Follow the path to Clematis Cottage. Bear left, passing The Mill Cottage and Uplands Cottage.

Turn left on a hard track. After 300yds (274m), it swings right and comes to a crossroads. Turn left on a grassy bridleway, and continue towards the A24 until the roadside houses come into view; then bear left, and walk parallel to the main road. Continue past Mill Road to the war memorial, then cross the main road via the underpass.

Take the quiet lane up towards Betchets Green Farm. Fork right just beyond the farm at a split in the road, and turn sharp right at the public footpath sign 75yds (69m) further on. Follow the path over a bridge into trees, and continue on the marked path into Warwick Close, and until the road ends at a public bridleway. Turn left, walk past Folly Farm, through a gate, and climb towards Redlands Wood for 450yds (411m) to reach a rough forest ride.

Turn right, and continue up the hill through the pine trees until the ride swings left to a five-way junction. Think of it as a mini-roundabout, and take the third exit. You’ll climb briefly, before dropping to a forest crossroads.

Turn right, then right again after 22yds (20m) to descend steeply to a junction of tracks. Bear right following a yellow waymarker. At the bottom of the hill swing right over a brook; almost at once fork left onto a narrow footpath just inside the woodland edge. A kissing gate leads you out of the woods and across an open field to another kissing gate. Pass through the gate and continue following the track as it zig-zags left and right into Norfolk Lane, back to the A24.

Cross the dual carriageway with care and walk down Holmwood View Road. At the end, continue along the grassy footpath and follow this over a footbridge and then across the orange waymarked trail. When the path swerves right, jink left onto an adjoining path over another footbridge, following the yellow waymarkers as it runs alongside the stream and the backs of houses and brings you out on Blackbrook Road. Turn right, then left into Red Lane (signposted towards Leigh and Brockham) and follow it for about 0.5 miles (800m).

Turn right into Brimstone Lane, within sight of the railway bridge, at the public bridleway signpost. Continue through a gate and follow the obvious path, passing a woodyard through a gate to walk down the right-hand side of a field, leaving at a final gate at the far end. Follow the track as far as Lodge Farm, then turn right onto Lodge Lane back to Fourwents Pond. Turn right on Blackbrook Road for the last 100yds (91m) to return to the car park.