Peaslake - Holmbury St Mary - Peaslake

Richard Clayton

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Starting and finishing in the lovely Surrey village of Peaslake, this walk takes in the fourth and third highest points in Surrey, Pitch Hill and Holmbury Hill, offering you stunning views over the Surrey and Sussex countryside towards the South Downs.

Initially you walk up through the Hurtwood, south of Peaslake, one of the first privately owned areas of the country to create a 'right to roam' in 1926, more than seventy years before the rest of England caught up! Throughout its 3,000 acres and along its 100 kilometres of tracks, you will see the attractive ground cover provided by 'hurt', now more commonly known as bilberry. It is administered by the Hurtwood Control Trust, a registered charity.

Your outbound route follows part of the Greensand Way, which runs for 108 miles from Haslemere along the Greensand Ridge, parallel to and south of the North Downs, into Kent and almost to the coast. It takes its name from the layers of sandstone and in particular the green-coloured mineral glauconite. Visiting the villages of Peaslake and Holmbury St Mary adds to the appeal of this walk. Both have pubs popular with walkers and both have interesting, attractive churches; see additional info'.

Remarkably, this now genteel neighbourhood was formerly one of the wildest in Surrey. Sheep-stealers, smugglers and poachers found a refuge in these remote hills. Some of the cottages have, still existing, very large cellars (excavated easily in the sand), which are far too large for any honest purpose and were no doubt made for storing smuggled goods till they could be conveniently taken on to London.

England - South England - Surrey - Surrey Hills

Features

Birds, Cafe, Church, Flowers, Food Shop, Good for Kids, Great Views, Hills or Fells, Pub, Public Transport, Wildlife, Woodland

10/17/2021 - Stephen Harris

Walked 17.10.2021. Directions, photos and access instructions all still up to date. A lovely walk, with a few ups and downs and well worth the effort. Stunning views and lovely woodland with great variety. A true gem of a walk, worth repeating at different times of the year 10/10.

3/17/2021 - Walkingworld Admin

A big thank you from Walkingworld to Steve Harris and Liz for all their recent updates and great new photos on this walk.

10/18/2020 - Stephen Harris

Walked 18.10.20 A very lovely walk of good distance (it'll keep you busy for a good few hours). Peaslake gets very busy on Sunday's with lots of cyclists using the trails in the hills. Some of the paths on this walk can also be used by cyclists (who are often screaming down the hillsides) so take care. The directions are pretty good throughout, there is no exposure to livestock as you are fenced in where cattle are present and there are some great views and variety of walking terrain. Do take a compass as the walk guide mentions directions in which you must walk. At point 15, there was no sign of barriers and the directions are ambiguous here. You take the right most wide track up the hill to a large junction of many paths then turn right to the summit. At point 16, be sure to take the wide track SE with the bush. Do not descend the very narrow track straight ahead off the hill. At point 26, you take a right fork, not the one going back on yourself. Point 27 doesn't seem to exist. WW advised and new pics submitted, hopefully to update the instructions. A nice moderate walk, some improvements needed to directions but easy to navigate if you have a GPS or compass. 9/10.

8/31/2018 - Patricia Daw

A well instructed route of a MODERATE walk. A lot of the walking is in woodland but this time it's worth it for the glorious views. NB. WM 26 needs rewriting. Don't take the path that is directly right of that solitary tree but rather one NE of the tree, or slightly right and behind it.

5/16/2017 - Nicola Clarke

Really lovely walk although I would agree that it is more moderate than easy with quite a few steep slopes to climb.At point 26 the layout seems to have changed as we couldn't find a gate. Just carry on ahead along the path bearing slightly to the right in front of the house.

1/12/2014 - Susan Pyne

Very enjoyable walk with good views and lots of variety. However it is more like moderate than easy,with some steepish climbs and a few navigational challenges (plus lots of mud after recent prolonged wet spell). We left the car at the big car park near WP3 and picked up the route at WP4 - better parking than in Peaslake village though means a final short walk up the road, and not so convenient for the pub!

6/14/2010 - Adrian Perkins

Our thanks to Richard Clayton for his complete revision of this walk. June 2010. Adrian (Admin)