Exploring Headley Heath

Look around you, for this is no ordinary place. About a tenth of all the world’s lowland heaths are found in southern England, and Headley includes the largest remaining area of acid heathland on the North Downs. Although heathland is an artificial habitat, it’s home to any rare and threatened species. Go quietly and you may see stonechats, woodlarks and even the occasional Dartford warbler. Common lizards live here too, as well as slow worms – harmless silvery legless lizards, not snakes, as is often thought.

The name Headley means ‘a heather clearing surrounded by woodland’, and that’s pretty much what you’ll see here today. But around 8,000 years ago, this was a very different landscape. At that time most of Britain was covered with dense woodland, and without human intervention that’s how it would have stayed. Things altered when Neolithic people arrived in about 6000 bc, slashing and burning the forest to provide grazing for their animals. At Headley, they found just what they wanted: high ground, with an easily worked sandy soil. It was the beginning of organised farming, and in one way or another the land has been grazed here ever since. Well, almost.

During World War II, Headley Heath was used as a training area by the Canadian Army. Their tanks and earth-moving equipment destroyed the open vegetation, and, after the war, birch trees started to invade the disturbed ground. Now Headley Heath is the setting for a very different type of warfare – the constant battle against encroaching woodland. You’ll see the National Trust’s secret weapon as you explore. The black and white belted Galloway cattle are very friendly and roam freely over the heathland so don’t be surprised if you meet them on this walk. Ten of these natural lawnmowers keep down the scrub and help maintain the special habitats of the heath. To discover their favourite grazing areas and explore the many habitats of the heath, including the ‘Bug Hotel’ at Aspen Pond and the chalk-loving plants near The Pyramids, try the National Trust’s short Lizard Trail. This is marked with orange markers from the car park, where you’ll also find a map and directions.

Face the road, walk to the far right-hand corner of the car park, and take the bridleway on your right passing through a gate, following the blue-topped posts and past two ponds on the right. Ignore all paths left and right until reaching a junction of paths with blue- and purple-topped posts.

Turn right here, and follow the bridleway for 125yds (115m) to a junction. Take the first left and at the next junction of bridleways turn right, rising slightly. At cross-tracks, walk straight ahead, still following the blu- topped posts. The broad track starts to descend to the valley bottom with a clear valley side to your right. Reach a junction of paths, with steps ahead of you, turn left here and pass another flight of steps on your left. Continue ahead, still on a bridleway, and after 100yds (91m) turn right, climbing steeply up an eroded path alongside a post-and-wire fence. At the top, pass through a gate and immediately take the path on the right. If you reach the road at High Ashurst, you’ll know that you’ve gone too far.

Double back to the right, and wind your way down out of the woods. Cross Lodgebottom Road at Cockshot Cottage, jink left and climb the narrow bridleway, occasionally very steeply, to a T-junction with a level track.

Turn right, and follow the public bridleway as far as Mill Way, alongside a paling fence with fine views to your right over the wooded valley. Just short of the road, bear right onto the public bridleway and follow it until it leads you across the road and onto a signposted byway. Follow the byway and continue on Langley Lane to the junction.

Fork left here, into Slough Lane, and walk up to the junction with Church Lane. Turn right onto the permissive bridleway that runs beside the road. Opposite The Cock Inn, turn right at the bus stop onto a signposted footpath. Follow it through to a road junction, turn hard right into Tot Hill Lane, and drop down to the junction with a metalled road.

Turn left and cross Mill Way into Crabtree Lane. Follow the waymarked bridleway past Crabtree Cottage and up the hill, through a gate, to a pit on your left-hand side. Bear left here, along the blue-waymarked track. Pass Goodmans Furze on your left and continue ahead, until you see the car park between trees on your left-hand side. Turn left through a gate to the car park.