Tunnels of Green: Saturday ramble: Newlands Corner to Shere

The beautiful undulating countryside of the Surrey Hills

Those of you who have followed this blog over the last couple of years will know that I never tire of singing the praises of my adopted home county of Surrey. Its leafy countryside was the inspiration for the title of my blog, blessed as this place is with deeply wooded stretches of land.

Compared to the last time we lived in Surrey, sadly the opportunity to get out into the countryside is limited. In our Frensham days we lived right in the thick of rural splendour and all I had to do was walk out my front door to be in a gloriously quiet, lush walking environment - I would often disappear for hours at a time. I got myself lost on a number of occasions but always managed to find my way home in the end - footsore, weary, often damp, but always invigorated.

Epsom's a different matter and residing here is the reason I personally feel this blog has been pretty uninspiring! I'm generally uninspired, living as we do in a London borough. To get my fresh-air fix these days we need to drive for a short distance and hope to get a parking space at the always-popular walking trail starting points.

This weekend, for the first time in ages it seems, we have managed to get out for a proper day of walking. I'm not afraid of 'weather' but it was a nice change to have a day without rain and wind (at least it was like that until about mid afternoon...), and we took advantage of this by driving to Newlands Corner.

About to commence our ramble

If you're an Agatha Christie fan (and who isn't?) you may be aware that Newlands Corner is the spot where, back in 1926, Mrs Christie abandoned her vehicle and went AWOL for a few days, fuelling speculation of her death.

Our walking route passed through a tiny hamlet on the edge of Shere

The trees are only just starting to come into bud - still mostly bare

Our walk took us through lightly forested areas and across undulating fields until we reached the River Tillingbourne and the very picturesque village of Shere.

If you're female and aged between 25-65 you are likely to have done a bit of sighing, or swooning - or both - over a fluffy rom-com from 2006 called The Holiday. It starred Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black and Jude Law (some of you will recall I had a close encounter with the gorgeous Mr Law when we lived at Frensham), as well as one of my favourite actors, Rufus Sewell, in a minor role - bonus!

Shere was one of several Surrey filming locations for this movie - and this article has some stills showing how the village was covered with artificial snow for a number of scenes.

It is unbelievably cute.

Arriving in Shere from the trail

Chocolate box cottages are in abundance in Shere

The River Tillingbourne

It's both a blessing and a curse that it's difficult to really get away from people and buildings in England - even in the countryside. However a positive aspect of this is that you can plan your walking around lunches and afternoon teas at rustic, cosy pubs that not only offer sustenance but also civilised bathroom facilities.

We enjoyed a really good bean-burger at The White Horse in Shere, which has a separate vegetarian section on their menu (though, as usual, heavily dairy based).

The White Horse Inn, Shere - originally a 15th century farmhouse

The very stylish interior of The White Horse Inn

Kevin enjoying a cleansing ale whilst I sipped on a montepulciano

We dined out the front, and enjoyed watching the comings and goings of the village

Before starting on the return to Newlands Corner we took the opportunity to wander through the village where Kevin scored some Mammut shorts on sale at the local purveyor of outdoor/sports clothing.

We also visited St James' church. There's been a place of worship on this site since 1190, and it has a fascinating piece of history. In 1329 a local woman, Christine Carpenter, lodged a petition seeking to become the 'Anchoress' of the church. This means she willingly was enclosed in a cell attached to the church. She received food and drink through a metal grating and had a quatrefoil peephole through which she could observe the altar and receive holy communion. After three years she left the cell, but some months later applied to be re-enclosed for a further period. Go figure - I don't understand this kind of religious fervour.

The spire from St James' Church was constructed between 1213-1300

And so we headed back to Newlands Corner, walking the last 45 minutes in light rain. None had been predicted earlier that day, so we weren't prepared. Still, we made it back to the car only slightly dampened.