Surrey

Dating from the Saxon period this small commuter town, off the M25, developed first around the unique Wey Navigation in the 17th century, and later the railways. In 1916 Addlestone became the home of Louis Bleriot’s aircraft company. He became the first person to cross the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft. The Crouch Oak, which once marked the boundary of Windsor Forest, is one of the oldest trees in England.

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Mentioned in the Domesday Book, this commuter town boasts a 13th century church and lies close to two major open spaces, the Staines Reservoir, where there is an important bird sanctuary, and Queen Mary Reservoir, which mainly attracts boaters. Shortwood Common contains one of the most important ‘ponds’ in the country and been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest

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Although it feels more like a modern commuter centre, Ashtead dates back to prehistory and was once a significant Roman settlement. Its 12th century church of St Giles was built on a former Roman site. The remains of a Roman villa have been unearthed nearby. The village was mentioned in the 11th century Domesday Book and the famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped at St Giles in the 17th century. Ashtead Common is an important nature reserve.

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Situated near Epsom on the picturesque North Downs, this neat town has managed to retain a bucolic air. A few miles away is the 125-acre Morden Hall Park. Owned by the National Trust, it includes a former snuff mill that has been transformed into an environmental centre and city farm. A window in Banstead’s 12th century parish church was designed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and made by William Morris.

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Mentioned in the Domesday Book, Bramley dates to the Saxon period. The area was granted to William the Conqueror’s half brother, Odo of Bayeux, following the momentous Battle of Hastings in 1066. Surrounded by superb rural views, Bramley has many historic properties and its parish church dates to the 1100s. The village was the birthplace of the garden designer Gertrude Jeckyll.

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Bordered by the Basingstoke Canal, this small commuter town holds a bizarre record – it boasts one of the biggest cemeteries in Britain, created in 1852 by the London Necropolis Company and National Mausoleum Company. Once the largest graveyard in the world, it is now also home to a wartime military cemetery. Nearby heaths are sites of special scientific interest.
 

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Situated in northwest Surrey, Camberley is a large commuter town that developed in the 19th century around the site of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The Surrey Heath Museum traces the history of the area and also looks at how Camberley briefly became a Victorian health resort.
The nearby village of Bisley is famous for hosting the UK's National Rifle Championships. Another local village, Deepcut, is home to the Princess Royal Barracks and the Royal Logistics Corps Museum.

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Surrounded by glorious countryside, this commuter town developed around the railways in the 19th century and was once famous for its army barracks. Its history can be traced at the East Surrey Museum.

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Lying on the banks of the River Thames, which is spanned by a magnificent arched bridge, historic Chertsey is an atmospheric town with a host of diverse charms.
Its church, for example, has a medieval tower while its local museum - housed in a Regency building - contains floor tiles made by the monks of a former Benedictine abbey, as well as the Olive Matthews collection of dress and textiles. This astonishing exhibition illustrates the changing face of fashion across hundreds of years.
In stark contrast, water-based Thorpe Park is one of the country’s biggest theme areas, covering 500 acres. Nearby, at Runnymede, is the riverside water meadow where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. Chertsey Meads is a 170-acre site of open grassland.

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This small commuter town off the busy M25 is dominated by a 12th century church but is most famous for being the former site of a tank factory and research unit. A cross marks the spot where Queen Victoria reviewed British troops before they left to take part in the Crimean War.

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Lying on the banks of the picturesque River Mole, ancient Cobham has beautiful surroundings, which include commons and a restored watermill. Nearby is the brilliantly conceived Painshill Park, a unique, award-winning landscaped garden created in the late 18th century by the artist/plantsman Charles Hamilton. Another unmissable attraction for plant-lovers is the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Wisley. Something completely different is provided by the Cobham Bus Museum, the world’s largest collection of ex-London buses and coaches.

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Located close to Leith Hill, Surrey’s highest point, near Dorking, this small, hilltop village boasts a spired church and has been home to several well-known artists. The French impressionist Lucien Pissarro lived and worked here during the First World War. The Polish poet Marian Hemar, who died in 1972, is buried in the local churchyard. The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams also lived here for a time. Near the village stands Anstiebury Camp, an Iron Age hillfort.

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Thought to have been named because it was a breeding ground for cranes, attractive Cranleigh lies in the Weald on the border with Sussex and boasts one of the country’s top public schools. It also claims to have the finest cricket ground, next to the Oval. Its 14th century church was restored in 1864.

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A large market town on the banks of the River Mole, Dorking is surrounded by splendid scenery in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At almost 1,000 feet, Leith Hill is the highest point in southeast England. At its peak is an 18th century tower that has been restored by the National Trust. Box Hill and Ranmore Common - also owned by the National Trust - boast spectacular views while a network of caves, excavated in the 17th century, lies beneath the town.

Dorking’s most famous residents were William Mullins, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, and the English composer Vaughan Williams, who lived at Leith Hill Place.

Charles Dickens stayed at the White Horse Inn while Nelson reportedly parted from his wife at a hotel in nearby Burford Bridge. The poet Keats also stayed here.

Major attractions hereabouts are Norbury Park and the Regency house Polesden Lacey, where the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent part of their honeymoon in 1923.

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The villages of East and West Molesey lie on the banks of the River Mole close to historic Hampton Court Palace, a favourite haunt of Henry VIII who acquired the great house from his archbishop, Cardinal Wolsey, and effectively rebuilt it. One of England’s greatest Tudor monuments, it has a hedge maze containing many miles of paths.

At the mouth of the River Mole is Hampton Court Bridge, designed by Edwin Lutyens. Across the River Thames is the former home of the 18th century actor and impresario David Garrick.

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Mentioned in the 11th century Domesday Book, Effingham has a long history and lies close to stunning Hampton Court Palace.

Its most famous modern resident was Sir Barnes Wallis, inventor of the dam-busting bouncing bomb. Apparently he conducted his early ‘bombing’ experiments in his garden. He is buried in a local churchyard.

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A former coaching town, Egham has a special relationship with the River Thames which flows through it. Much of the land adjacent to the waterway is preserved by the National Trust. Locks built in the 19th century also act as a reminder of the area’s earliest days.

At a meadow in nearby Runnymede the Magna Carta was signed by King John anxious to pacify his rebellious barons. A domed temple commemorates this moment of history while another memorial remembers the assassination of President John F Kennedy. A third memorial has been erected in tribute to airmen killed in the Second World War.

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Epsom is one of London’s most sought-after commuter towns and was once a famous spa, its salts created by boiling down local mineral water. The Epsom Downs Racecourse hosts both The Oaks and The Derby. The latter has been run since 1780.

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Lying on the banks of the River Mole, Esher is a one-time coaching town and royal hunting ground. The great Clive of India built the Palladian mansion Claremont whose landscaped garden is owned by the National Trust. Nearby is Sandown Park Racecourse.

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Ancient Farnham lies beneath the narrow Hog’s Back chalk ridge and can trace its origins into prehistory. The Romans excavated local clay to produce pottery. Later, Farnham became an important corn market and had a thriving brewing industry.

Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian settlement in England and its ruins are as romantic as those of the 12th century Farnham Castle whose magnificent keep is owned by English Heritage. The castle grounds have been transformed into a park.

The radical politician and essayist William Cobbett was born nearby in a local hostelry and the story of his life is told at the local museum. He is buried in St Andrew’s churchyard.
The 1,000-acre Frensham Country Park and the 10-acre Pride of the Valley Sculpture Park can be found locally, as can the Alice Holt Woodland Park, Birdworld and The Rural Life Centre at Tilford.

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Located in the splendid Surrey Hills, this ancient market town is full of picturesque, antique properties and has had many famous residents, including the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, and the writers George Eliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The French musician Arnold Dolmetsch also made his home here and built a business, which is still thriving, making instruments such as harpsichords. He gave his name to the annual International Dolmetsch Early Music Festival.

Haselmere’s Educational Museum was founded in the late 19th century by the eminent doctor and philanthropist Sir Jonathon Hutchinson.

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The highest village in Surrey, Hindhead lies close to the dramatic Devil’s Punch Bowl – a deep valley cut into a sandstone ridge – above which is Gibbet Hill, the site of at least one notorious hanging. The co-founder of the National Trust, Sir Robert Hunter, lived in the village and raised sufficient cash through public subscription to buy much of Hindhead Common - one of the organisation's first purchases.

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Beautifully situated amid glorious scenery, this cobbled, historic town - home of Charterhouse public school - is blessed with timber-framed houses and a church with a Saxon chancel and Norman tower. A one-time woollen centre it was noted for weaving and knitting and later became a coaching destination.

Development of the River Wey in the 18th century linked Godalming with Guildford and thence to London, and in 1881 forward-thinking Godalming was the first town in the UK to install a public supply of electricity - and the first in the world to have electric street lighting.

The King’s Arms pub was popular to a number of eminent aristocrats. They included Peter the Great in 1698 and William of Prussia in 1816.

The nearby house Munstead Wood was designed in the late 19th century by Edwin Lutyens for Gertrude Jekyll. Her 15-acre garden has become nationally famous. Another local attraction is the Winkworth Arboretum.

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The attractive village of Godstone, located close to the North Downs, boasts many small cottages, a green, cricket pitch and old-fashioned duck pond. Its most famous pub, The White Hart, is Elizabethan. Godstone Farm is one of the south’s most popular farm attractions while the 50-acre Godstone Vineyards is said to be Britain’s most beautiful vineyard. Nearby is the oldest working windmill in the country, built in the mid 17th century. During the Elizabethan period Godstone was famous for its leather industry. Gunpowder was also made here.

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Surrey’s attractive university town, situated on the banks of the River Wey, boasts the only new cathedral to have been built in the south of England since the Reformation. Erected in the last century, the red-brick Gothic-style building was designed by Sir Edward Maufe and was consecrated in 1961.

Despite this modern masterpiece, the town dates at least to the Saxon times period and the tower of its parish church dates from 1036, while its castle keep was a Norman project.

A one-time woolen and coaching centre, Guildford’s fortunes owe much to the creation in the 17th century of the Wey Navigation, one of the first rivers in England to be made navigable. The waterway connected the town with the Thames at Weybridge and thence to the metropolis of London. The full story of this important innovation is told at the Dapdune Wharf visitor centre where visitors can clamber on board one of the few surviving Wey barges.

Guildford’s most obvious landmark is its Tudor Guildhall. It has an overhanging clock whose innards date from 1560.

Major attractions around the town include the country houses of Clandon Park (which also houses the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment Museum), Hatchlands, Loseley Park and the Elizabethan Sutton Place; the latter was one of the first non-fortified mansions built in Britain.

Guildford’ most famous resident was the Victorian writer Lewis Carroll who is buried at The Mount Cemetery.

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The ‘gateway to the Surrey Hills’, lovely Leatherhead lies on the banks of the River Mole, which flows beneath a photogenic 14-arch bridge. The town has ancient roots, a fact reflected in its many timber-framed buildings, including its 17th century museum.

One of its top attractions is the Fire & Iron Gallery, the world’s leading metal art gallery featuring the work of international jewellers and blacksmiths.

Leatherhead’s church boasts a 15th century tower which looks out onto the river, a vista which was turned into a famous watercolour painting by the artist J M W Turner.

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Blessed with ancient buildings, the village of Limpsfield was mentioned in the Domesday Book. At one time it belonged to Battle Abbey that once owned the village’s 12th century church. The composer Frederick Delius, conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, and Australian pianist Eileen Joyce, are all buried here. Nearby Limpsfield Common is owned by the National Trust while the mansion and gardens of Titsey Place sit in splendour beneath the North Downs.

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One of Surrey’s best-preserved villages, Lingfield boasts a 15th century cross, a village pond, an oak tree that is several hundred years old and an 18th century jail. Its church, which dates back to the 14th century, contains the some of the finest brasses in Surrey. The local library is housed in another 15th century building. Nearby stands the restored Haxted watermill and museum.

A major attraction here is the Lingfield Racecourse, set in 600 acres of countryside and developed in the late 19th century.

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Situated near Surrey’s eastern border with Kent, Oxted boasts a main steep street lined with 17th and 18th century cottages.

Titsey Place is an historic house set in 15 acres of gardens.

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Found at the foot of the North Downs, this town started life in the 19th century and is now part of the London commuter belt. Its large modern shopping centre is home to the Royal Earlswood Museum, which has an exhibition of the works of the savant James Henry Pullen. Known as the 'Genius of Earlswood Asylum', he spent 66 years of his life in a local psychiatric hospital. Despite being deaf, virtually mute and occasionally violent, he built exquisite models of ships, impressing royal admirers and the world at large. He died in the hospital in 1916. Nearby are Biggin Hill and the National Trust’s Outwood Windmill.

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This historic town at the foot of the North Downs dates back to Saxon times. The grounds of its one-time castle have been turned into a delightful park while the nearby 13th century Reigate Priory is now a museum containing a multitude of historic artefacts. Its 200-acre grounds boast a lake and beautiful gardens.

Reigate Heath is an important nature reserve while Reigate Hill - owned by the National Trust - offers spectacular views. At its summit stands Reigate Fort, built to protect London from invasion in the 19th century. Gatton Park was landscaped by the gardening architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Reigate’s 18th century Heath Windmill may be the world’s only windmill to have been converted into a church. Services are still held here.

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RICHMOND UPON THAMES
The only London borough whose boundary spans the River Thames, leafy Richmond - an amalgam of a dozen or so towns - has more than 20 miles of river bank as well as the glorious Richmond Park, one of London's most attractive open spaces, and the major attractions of Kew's Botanical Gardens and Hampton Court Palace. The latter is the oldest Tudor palace in the country and one of Henry VIII's masterpieces.

Marble Hill House, built in the 18th century for Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George III, is also open to the public, as is Twickenham Rugby Stadium and Museum.

Ham House is reputed to be one of Britain’s most haunted properties. A superb Stuart mansion, it has lavish interiors, beautiful formal gardens and a 17th century-style kitchen garden.
 

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Situated in northwest Surrey and lying close to the River Thames, Shepperton boasts a number of late medieval properties but is best known as the home to Shepperton movie studios, which began making feature films in the 1930s. Despite this, the most famous person to have visited the local Anchor Hotel was the highwayman Dick Turpin.

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Lying on the banks of the River Tillingbourne, Shere is an attractive downland village with an evocative 12th century church whose lytch gate was designed by Edwin Lutyens. The gardens of nearby Aldbury Park date back to the 17th century.

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Overlooking the River Thames 17 miles west of London, Staines was a Roman settlement in the 1st century AD, occupying a strategic crossing point. Its museum contains many Roman artifacts and an exhibition illustrating the history of linoleum, a floor covering that was fashionable in the 19th and 20th centuries. A bronze statue of two workers carrying a roll of linoleum stands in the High Street. Nearby are several famous reservoirs.

The Magna Carta was signed at nearby Runnymede by King John in 1215, and when London was hit by the plague in 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh was brought instead to Staines to stand trial for treason.

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This London suburb was mentioned in the 11th century Domesday Book and in 1603 was granted to Lord Kynvett, who was responsible for arresting Guy Fawkes in 1605. The politician’s tomb lies in the spired 14th century church of St Mary.

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Dating back to the Bronze Age, this riverside suburb derives its name from the Saxon Lord Sunna who settled here in the 10th century. The Walled Garden, near Sunbury’s village green, includes a flowerbed dedicated to the Princess of Wales. Nearby is Kempton Park Racecourse.

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With an ancient history, this modern commuter town has a Saxon church and owes its prosperity to the Victorian railway boom. The first bridge to span the Thames was built here in 1750 but today’s pleasure seekers prefer bobbing up and down in small boats moored at the town’s marina.

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Sitting on the banks of the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, Weybridge was founded as a river crossing in the 13th century and is now a modern commuter town off the busy M25 motorway.

Its main claim to fame is Brooklands, the high-banked racetrack that became the first purpose-built motor racing circuit in the world in the early 20th century.
As well as hosting the first British Grand Prix, Brooklands also developed an aerodrome that led, eventually, to the creation of the giant Vickers aircraft corporation. The quirky and astonishing history of both the track and the airfield can be traced at the 'Spirit of Brooklands' museum – a ‘must see’ for visitors to the south of England.

The nearby 17th century Wey Navigation – now in the hands of the National Trust - flows through stunning countryside.

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This large modern conurbation is surrounded by magnificent countryside and developed around its railway station. It dates back at least to the 7th century when it was a settlement within the kingdom of Wessex.
In the 20th century it was home to the sci-fi writer H G Wells whose novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ describes a Martian fleet landing at Horsell Common - a fictional event marked by an out-of-this-world statue in the town centre. The Basingstoke Canal is a paradise for both walkers and wildlife.
 

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