Holmwood to Shamley Green Walk

Main walk: 18.7km (11.6 miles)

Holmwood to Guildford: 28km (17.4 miles)

This walk mainly follows a wooded section of the Greensand Way, taking in several magnificent viewpoints. It starts with a climb from Holmwood station to Leigh Hill, the highest hill in Southern England, from where, on a clear day, you can see both London and the South Downs. It is here that you pick up the Greensand Way and follow it down into the valley, where the village of Holmbury St Mary offers two pub options for lunch.

There is then a stiff climb up onto the Hurtwood ("hurt" being an old name either for blueberries or for a gorse and broom-covered common: sources disagree) and to the fine viewpoint of Holmbury Hill. Another descent into a green valley and a climb up the other side brings you to Pitch Hill, another fine viewpoint, from, where one can see Leith Hill to the east and Black Down above Haslemere to the west.

There is then a gentle and rambling descent down to Shamley Green, passing an interesting curved shelter on the way. Finally one emerges into green fields and comes down to a pub with a pleasant garden and outside tables conveniently situated on the village green next to the bus stop, from where frequent buses go into Guildford.

Passing through fine beech and sweet chestnut woods, this walk provides particularly good leaf colour in late autumn. In summer it combines both plenty of shade and some fine views, and this would be the best time to see the heathland plants of Holmbury Hill. Like all woodland routes, it has the potential to be muddy in winter, though since the soils of the Greensand Ridge are sandy, this might be reduced.

This is a map-led walk - ie no written directions are provided, though there is a GPX file - see button menu above. For written directions for the climb up onto Leith Hill you could use the Holmwood to Gomshall walk on this site (book 1, walk 42) but note that it has a slightly different start to the one used in the GPX file for this walk. From Leith Hill onwards you are following the Greensand Way which is reasonably well waymarked with arrows on posts - though in the later stages of this walk the waymarking gets rather erratic and the woods can be a bit confusing, especially when fresh leaf fall obscures the paths.

Note that this section of the Greensand Way is quite popular with mountain bikers, who do not always cycle with the care and attention that pedestrians might like. Take care and remind any miscreants that this is a mixed use path, not a cycle superhighway.

There are no trains to Holmwood on Sundays and some bank holidays. On that day, you could use the start of Gomshall to Dorking walk (SWC walk 147) as far as Holmbury Hill. You could then descend to Holmbury St Mary for lunch and do the second half of this walk in the afternoon, retracing your steps up onto Holmbury Hill.

A supplementary GPX file is provided extending the walk to finish in Guildford, adding another 9.3km (5.8 miles) and giving a total walk length of 28km (17.4 miles).

Take the train nearest to 9.30am from Victoria Station to Holmwood. Journey time 55 minutes. Note that there is no service on this line on Sundays and some bank holidays.

Buy a day return to Gomshall, making sure it is "any permitted" and not via Redhill only. This ticket is valid for travel outward to Dorking and back from Guildford. Holmwood is one stop beyond Dorking so technically you need to add a single from Dorking to Holmwood, but since Gomshall is also a stop beyond Dorking, ticket inspectors may waive this requirement.

At the end of the walk you need to get Arriva Kent and Surrey bus number 53 or 63 from Shamley Green (the stop across the road from the Red Lion pub) to Guildford. These go three times an hour until around 7pm Monday to Saturday and hourly after that until 11pm. On Sundays the buses are hourly until 11pm. Trains from Guildford to Waterloo go every 15 minutes or so and take 40 minutes: be sure to take the fast trains stopping at Woking and Clapham Junction only, not the stopping train via Clandon.

There is a National Trust-run tea kiosk on the summit of Leith Hill, 4.9km (2.8 miles) into the walk, which is now open daily, year round.

There is also a coffee place on the right as you enter the village of Holmbury St Mary, 7.9km (4.9 miles) into the walk - Heartwork Coffee. An open air place popular with cyclists, it is open to 3pm Tuesday to Sunday, plus bank holiday Mondays.

Otherwise of the two pubs in Holmbury St Mary, the King's Head (01306 735 050) is the most conveniently sited. It serves food from 12-3pm daily and from 5.30pm evenings from Monday to Saturday. It is open for drinks all afternoon and evening (to 6pm only on Sundays and bank holidays).

500 metres up the main road through Holmbury St Mary (though a prettier way is to continue on up the lane past the King's Head and then take a path contouring the hill to the church - see GPX), the Royal Oak (01306 898010) is a pleasant country pub in the attractive heart of the village, with both inside and outside seating. It serves food all afternoon daily.

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Nov-22 Peter