A circuit from Witley to Brook

Recommended by

Walk directions

From the car park, and with your back to the road, take the path straight ahead. After 30yds (27m), turn left. After 100yds (91m), take the first fork right and descend on a winding, sandy path. After 150yds (137m), meet a T-junction and turn right, followed by a sharp left turn after a further 160yds (146m). Continue along this path to the A286. Go straight across and take the path immediately opposite onto Witley Common. After 20yds (18m), go ahead at the first cross-track, then right and, after a few paces, left at a larger crossroads. Continue on until the path meets a broad, sandy track coming from the left. Turn right at this point, fork left by a waymarker, and go straight on a crosstrack before climbing uphill. At the purple marker, bear left up the hill and, meeting a cross-track, continue straight ahead to a National Trust car park.

Turn right along Lea Coach Road to Thursley Lodge. You’ll get a glimpse of Witley Park down the private drive, but your route lies along the bridleway straight ahead, running parallel with a well-built stone wall on the left. The lane drops down to a junction; swing left past Eastlake and Lake Lodge, then bear right onto a woodland path.

Turn left on French Lane and continue ahead. At a signposted bridleway, you can take a short diversion to see a beautiful old watermill (now a private house) by forking right here and continuing downhill to the mill and its landscaped grounds. Retrace your steps back to French Lane and continue for 0.5 miles (0.8km), round a sharp left-hand bend.

Turn left onto the Greensand Way and continue through an avenue of trees, over a waymarked stile and around the left edge of a field. Halfway along, dodge left through a kissing gate and down some steps to the drive, cross the drive to Heath Hall and follow the waymarked Greensand Way through a gate, and then a kissing gate, and down an avenue of young trees. Pass through a gate and reach the entrance to Lower House, cross the drive and go through a kissing gate and continue straight down the slope and up the other side. Walk along a broad grassy track leading up to the edge of Furzefield Wood, turn left through the woods and down a short steep slope to Screw Corner Road by Pine Lodge.

Continue across the A286 and follow the Greensand Way until it turns off to the right, near the top of the hill. Keep straight on along the blue waymarked bridleway to Parsonage Farm Cottages and go left. After 22yds (20m), turn right through wooden posts onto a permitted footpath and follow the fence on your left to a gate at a three-way fingerpost. Go through the gate and head towards a pair of mature oak trees standing alone, on a public footpath running between two fences across the field, and to another gate on the far side. Cross the lane and go through another gate into the next field. Follow the path through the curving valley until two metal kissing gates and a wooden stile lead you past a pair of white cottages (Lemon Field Cottage and Mare Hill Cottage). Bear right up the drive to Roke Lane. Cross over and go down the footpath opposite. After 110yds (100m), turn left along a broad, sandy path. At the line of electricity wires turn left to return to the car park.

View all directions

Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland tracks and paths across farmland, some short sections on minor roads; 2 stiles

Landscape - Pretty landscape of small fields and wooded valleys

Dog friendliness - By law, dogs must be on lead through Furzefield Wood; strict control needed around livestock – bulls may be grazing here

Parking - Mare Hill car park, east of A286 on Roke Lane

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Surrey Dog-friendly walks in Surrey

About the walk

As you head east along the edge of Witley Common on your way back towards Thursley, two grey stone lodges stand sentinel at the entrances to Witley Park. Nowadays, an exclusive business and conference centre lies beyond these gateways, but at the close of the 19th century the estate was put...

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

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

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

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

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Surrey is one of England’s most wooded counties, with over a quarter of the landscape designated as an official AONB and plenty of history evident in the countryside. You’ll find sandy tracks, cottage gardens and welcoming village inns, and on the fringe of Greater London you can picnic in Chaldon’s hay meadows, explore the downs at Epsom, or drift idly beside the River Thames.