Thursley - Devil's Punchbowl - Thursley

Richard Clayton

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Thursley is a small Surrey village which lies just west of the A3, between Milford and Hindhead. That may be enough information to answer the question "Now where have I seen that name?" as you are more likely to have driven past at speed than stopped there. The name came from the Norse god Thor and the settlement was probably a site where he was worshipped.

"I have seldom ridden on pleasanter ground than that which I found between Woolmer Forest and this beautiful village of Thursley" - William Cobbett, 1823. Thursley is known for its common, a National Nature Reserve which is an area of lowland peat bog providing a rich habitat for dragonflies, damselflies, the endangered woodlark and the Dartford warbler. Thursley Military Camp, renamed 'Tweedsmuir' after Lord Tweedsmuir, the author John Buchan, housed British, American and Canadian forces during World War II and later housed Polish refugees.

Thursley was also the childhood home of the architect Edwin Lutyens.

The village pub, the Three Horseshoes, is community-owned. It was saved, having been closed for five years, when over twenty villagers raised the funds needed to purchase the business in 2004. The previous owner had tried to sell the property, which dates back to 1840, as a private house.

For more about the Greensand Way, see Additional Info.

England - South England - Surrey - Surrey Hills

Features

Ancient Monument, Birds, Butterflies, Church, Great Views, Hills or Fells, National Trust, Pub, Public Transport, Wildlife, Woodland

11/11/2023 - Patricia Daw

Gosh, I last commented on this walk 13 years ago!!! Today (11.11.23) we walked it using the app to help us, not printed sheets. The walk is as lovely as before. My Strava app clocked what we walked as 8.98 miles but then we a) diverted off the walk to have a coffee at the NT cafe at the Devil's Punch Bowl b) we went to admire the view from Gibbet Hill c) BT were having some trees felled and wouldn't allow us to turn 1eft at wm 12 so we had to turn right on that road junction and make our way, with difficulty, to wm 14. d) at wm 15 there was a sign telling us that there had been a landslide and access to 16 wasn't possible. As you never know how long these signs have been there we decided to proceed and see. Half way to 16 there is definitely no entry so we took a right then a left to make our way to 16 (not sure the cows took kindly to us crossing their field. We upped our pace as they started to approach. We completed the walk in 3 hours of actual moving time.

8/31/2020 - Paula Lush

Nice walk , but we cut short from point 16 and took GW route back to go under A3 and back to Thursley as walk is definitely longer than the 6 miles given as full distance. We had 3 different GPS trackers on and we had 3 different distances given for the route we took baring in mind we chopped off points 17 to 21 we still covered 6.25 / 6.80 or 7.45 miles depending which tracker you went with ! I am guessing with the sections we missed this would be more like an 8 mile walk. Still very enjoyable , but do watch out for Mountain Bikers especially if you are dog walking as there are many of them.on route .

6/25/2020 - bob higgins

Brilliant walk and easy diversion to Gibbet hill for sandwich is really worth it. In section 14 after crossing the field there are 2 large trees fallen recently. The stile is still standing but in the middle of the fallen tree. the best I can offer is, climb over and round first fallen tree and keep going in same direction with pond on left and stream on right. In 10 yds you will see the farm beyond the next fallen tree"

9/23/2018 - Claire Edwards

Lovely route with clear directions. I ran it with the dog and apart from the stretches on roads, found it to be dog-friendly. If I did it again, I would stay on the GW at waymark 8, go to the top of Gibbet Hill to enjoy the wonderful views of Devil's Punchbowl and turn left to rejoin the route at waymark 10 after the A3 tunnels.

9/22/2009 - Adrian Perkins

Many thanks to Patricia Daw for her update for this walk. Adrian (Admin)

9/22/2009 - Patricia Daw

My hubby and I have just completed this lovely walk. Excellent directions. The viewing platform to look down on the A3 tunnel is still there as it won't be finished until 2012! The EIEIO shop is now a flooring shop so no afternoon tea for us - we had a shandy in the lovely garden of the Three Horseshoes pub in Thursley instead - will return for dinner on another occasion - excellent looking menu. My first walk from this site - I'm impressed. 20-9-09