Blogs from Surrey, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Haslemere is one of my favourite places to stay in the UK with fabulous walks, views and history. A great place for a short break away. Previously home to the late Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the world renound Sherlock Holmes, who moved to Haslemere from London in 1897. His former residence was called Undershaw, which he lived in until 1907. Aside from interesting history there are some brilliant places to walk locally such as the devils punchbowl, Waggoners Wells and some beautiful local trails in and around the town. The town itself is beautiful, quite upmarket, with a number of nice restaurants and pubs to eat or drink in. It's also highly accessible with direct trains... read more

We both remembered visiting Box hill in the past and decided to visit there on 2 June. We caught the train from Waterloo and reached Box Hill and Westhumble station round the lunch time. There were several young people who seemed to head for Box Hill from the station. We remembered houses and their gardens and pubs – nothing has been changed since the last time we were there. As we reached the main road, we walked under subway and found the footpath near Burgh Hotel. We climbed up the steep hill and steps for a little while. The footpath became less strenuous as we approached the summit level – and we were able to overlook Burgh Hotel, Flint Cottage known as George Meredith’s chalet, winery, lovely houses and magnificent mansions below. There were a lot ... read more

19 September 2019, Thursday Kingston on Thames to Putney Bridge London day 18 of Thames Path, day 34 of travel A note about the previous blog. Harlan's brother-in-law and Bob, a friend from Anthem, have given identification to our 'oreo' cows!' They are Banded Galloways bred in Scotland. A 15.9 mile day. Left the White Hart hotel around 0800 with plans to walk to the cafe at Petersham Nursery for breakfast (Google says open at 0900). We crossed over the bridge and at the lower level of the John Lewis building we saw the archeological section of a arched roof structure of a very early 14th century merchant's house. This is the exact spot the barrel-vaulted cellar and ornate chequerboard flint and chalk walls were discovered when working in the old bridge abutments. We elected to ... read more

17 September 2019, Tuesday Day 16 on Thames Path, Windsor to Chertsey, day 31 of travel. England. Day 16 on Thames Path It is a beautiful day as we leave Windsor. The flowers in town are putting on their final show in a burst of pride. We have grand views of the castle, that is providing the distant backdrop, from across the Home Park, an open area that faces the castle Today the highlights will be found in the meadows of Runnymeade. We find the two Lutyens gatehouses, one containing the Magna Carta Tea Room, and find Norma and Jo, having had their drinks, ready to take off. We take a break and then head down the meadows. Just over 800 years ago weak King John set his seal on the Magna Carta, "Great Charter." This ... read more

Golfing Bucket List Final Course for UK - Walton Heath Friday 31 May - Walton Health – woke this morning with tired legs after yesterday’s effort of hill climbing at St George’s. Graham has so been looking forward to playing Walton Heath for many years. When we started booking courses for this trip our one disappointment was we could not get a booking at Walton Heath on the Old Course as it was all booked out and we were offered a round on the New Course. We decided New would be better than missing out altogether. Imagine our excitement when we were talking to the starter and she remembered our booking request for the Old Course and she said we had come so far, she would squeeze us into the Old Course field. We were really ... read more