Weekend Walk: Sheepleas, Lovelace Bridges, East Horsley (5.25 miles)

South of East Horsley there is a large hilly forested area criss-crossed by paths many of which are known only to locals. Hidden in the woods are many surprises, especially the stone bridges built in the 1800s by the Earl of Lovelace to transport his timber wagons. This walk visits three of these bridges and the sites of two “lost” bridges, using several rare paths. This is dog friendly with no stiles. Taken with permission from www.fancyfreewalks.org.

1. From the Sheepleas Shere Road car park, take the path between stumps beside a noticeboard. In 150m, where you see a T-junction with two fingerposts ahead, fork right and veer right on a bridleway. In just 20m you come to a junction with a 2-way signpost pointing forward and back to two car parks. Ignore both directions and instead turn left on a side path. Another path quickly joins from the left. Almost immediately, you come to a fork. Take the left fork, thus staying on the main path. In 30m you go past a post saying self-guided trail on the other side. In 100m you reach a 3-way fingerpost: veer right here on a public bridleway.

2. In 30m you come to a Y-junction: fork right here uphill on a flinty path. In 150m or so, you come to a major crossing track with a 4-way fingerpost: go right and immediately left, thereby keeping your direction. Your path crosses an open area. Ignore minor paths left and right to reach another fingerpost. Keep straight ahead over an oblique crossing path, in the direction of the bridleway, passing the fingerpost on your left. Your path goes for some distance downhill under a tall canopy of various trees. Finally it comes down to the Green Dene road, opposite its junction with Honeysuckle Bottom.

3. Cross straight over, a fraction right, to a small signpost and footpath left, just after High Hazels. Follow the path between gardens and straight on into woodland. Your path goes under one of the Earl of Lovelace’s famous stone bridges. This one is Raven Arch, a single-parapet bridge. Your path shortly comes up to a major junction of tracks. Take the wide forestry track very sharp left, almost doubling back. The track gently rises and curves right, ever tighter, until it has come almost half-circle. As it begins to flatten out, where you see it curving left about 50m ahead, look for a marker post on your left with a white badge indicating Lovelace Bridges Trail. Turn left here on a much narrower path and follow it through rhododendrons. It soon leads you over the largest of the Lovelace bridges, the Dorking Arch, with the Crocknorth Road below.

4. On the other side, continue ahead on a path into woods. In 50m, your path goes over two crossing paths and enters beechwoods with a green meadow visible on the right through cypresses. Finally, your path comes to a bank, just after the site of one of the lost bridges, Oak Hangers, as indicated by a plaque on your left. Go down the bank and turn left on a sunken path. In 30m, you reach a large sign for Oldlands and a junction of paths. Go straight ahead, ignoring a forestry track left, and in 20m, at a marker post, take the right fork, a fraction uphill, marked with a yellow badge on a tree on your left marked Horsley Jubilee Trail. In 150m, your path forks: take the left-hand fork the narrower option, marked by a blue arrow. Your path runs gently downhill under beeches and soon becomes a splendid avenue of yew trees. You arrive at a junction with some oblique crossing paths: keep dead straight on along a good path, soon going over another Lovelace bridge, Stony Dene.

5. Continue over the bridge for another 100m where you meet an oblique, very obvious, crossing path. Fork left onto the crossing path. In 500m, in a slight dip in the path, you pass the site of another lost Lovelace bridge, Pine Grove. Some of the brickwork can still be seen. Your path continues by a wire fence, eventually meets another footpath from the left and runs beside a house to reach the main A246 Guildford Road. Cross this road carefully, turn right for 20m and quickly left on Dirtham Lane/Calvert Road.

6. Follow the lane beside the old flint wall of Effingham Lodge on your left and bungalows on your right. By Lusty Glaze, take the left fork, staying next to the wall, on the aptly-named Dirtham Lane. You pass the entrance to Dell Farm, after which the surface is rougher. Ignore a yellow badge soon on your right for the Horsley Jubilee Trail, although on another day this is well worth exploring. The crumbling flint wall is now a ruin in parts. You come to a 3-way junction at a fingerpost. Keep straight on, as for East Horsley, avoiding the path right for Effingham, still beside the flint wall. On your right is Great Ridings Wood. At the corner of the wall, at another fingerpost, turn left for East Horsley. At a marker post, keep straight on by a fence, ignoring a footpath on the right. Finally your path goes by a small metal gate and under a stone bridge (not a Lovelace bridge, though built in the same spirit by the owners of Innisfree).

7. Ignore a footpath on your right and continue past tennis courts. The lake on your left is Pennymead as you go over a small bridge to join a tarmac lane. You reach a crossroads with a private road, Pine Walk, on your left. There is an interesting alternative route here through Horsley Park and past Horsley Towers. This is a private park, hotel and venue but this route is regularly used by dog walkers, young people and local families as the site is comfortable towards casual visitors. To use this route, turn left on this private residential road, leading you to a large wooden gate which is the rear entrance to the park; follow this path, zigzagging past Horsley Towers, with its pond and garden and leave by the main entrance, zigzagging again, to the road near the church.

8. Turn left, past the Church of St Martin, which is worth visiting and where you can sometimes have a guide and even tea. At the junction with the main road, on the left is Guildford Lodge and, on the right, the local pub, the ‘Duke of Wellington’. Turn right on the main A246 road using the footway. In 300m, just by a welcome sign for West Horsley, turn left onto a signposted bridleway with a noticeboard about Sheepleas. Follow this wide path for about 700m inside a wide band of trees with houses or fields on each side. You pass a small untidy timber yard on your left and your path enters thicker woodland. Avoid all side branches, ignoring a signposted horse path, until, 200m from the timber yard, you meet two fingerposts. At the second fingerpost, fork right for Shere Road Car Park.

9. This path takes you through a wooden barrier and along a path into a long green valley. Shortly, opposite a marker post, ignore a path that forks right up the side of the valley (although it also leads to the car park) and continue along the bottom of the valley. The path gradually rises and curves right, getting steeper. It leads into a band of trees where you find a large 3-way fingerpost. Keep straight ahead in the direction of the Shere Road Car Park, immediately reaching a grassy space with two sets of picnic tables. Fork right here between the picnic tables, across the middle of the grassy space. At the far side, join a wide path (the path you ignored above) that runs along the right-hand side of the grassy area. Shortly you reach two fingerposts close together. Keep straight ahead in the direction of Shere Road Car Park. Quickly take the right fork, then the left fork, to reach the car park where the walk began.

DISTANCE: 5½ miles
OS MAPS: Explorer 146 (Dorking) and 145 (Guildford)
STARTING POINT: Sheepleas Shere Road Car Park, nearest postcode KT24 6EP, grid ref TQ 085 515.
HOW TO GET THERE: Shere Road is off the A246 Leatherhead/Guildford road at the small roundabout in West Horsley. The Shere Road Sheepleas car park is 1 km on the left.



Classic Apple Tarte Tatin

Apple Tarte Tatin Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
3 – 4 Pink Lady apples, 100g unsalted butter, 100g caster sugar, ¼ vanilla pod, a pinch of ground cinnamon, 2 sheets puff pastry, egg wash to brush.

Method:
1. Place soft butter in smaller sauce pot and spread evenly on bottom.
2. Add sugar, then sprinkle ground cinnamon & vanilla pod
3. Peel apples and cut into quarters. Using a small serrated knife, shape quartered apple into teardrop shapes and place them in prepared sauce pot.
4. Fill shaped apple all around in the pan and make sure they are all very tight.
5. Cook over low to medium heat until butter and sugar caramelised. Its ready to take off from heat once butter and sugar caramelised beautiful deep golden colour and butter becomes clear.
6. Set oven at 200C. Cool down caramelised apple and set aside. Prepare puff pastry while cooling down apple. Use same size sauce pot or same size plate to cut out 2 sheets of puff pastry. Brush a puff pastry disc with egg wash and put another pastry disc over it.
7. Cover cooked apple with layered puff pastry. Cook in the preheated oven for 17-22mins, until puff pastry is puffed up and cooked. Cool down slightly and turn it upside down using a plate. Place the hot apple tart tin on a plate and serve with the Vanilla Bean Chantilly Cream.

Vanilla Bean Chantilly Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup double cream, ½ vanilla pod, 1 tbsp caster sugar, ½ tsp vanilla extract, sweet dessert wine to taste.

Method:
1. Split Vanilla beans into half with paring knife, and scrape vanilla beans from the pod.
2. Pour cream into mixing bowl, then add vanilla beans, vanilla extract, sugar into the bowl.
3. Whip cream mixture until fluffy texture.
4. Drizzle the wine into whipped cream and whisk until soft peak.
5. Keep it in refrigerator.

Recipe provided by The Garden House Restaurant at the Beaverbrook Hotel, Leatherhead KT22 8QX.
Tel: 01372 571300. www.beaverbrook.co.uk.



Weekend Walk: Chidham Circular (5 miles)

Late summer is a lovely time to visit the seaside, as long as you are away from the crowds. This is a 5 mile circular walk with some of the best panoramic views of the harbour at Chichester. There is always something to watch on the water, whether it is groups of young people learning to sail or kayak, or birds diving for fish. This walk is taken with permission from Chichester Harbour Conservancy.

1. Take the first path on the left out of the car park. Going up a few steps you can see Bosham Church in the distance (position A on the map). Turn to the right and then left along the field edge, heading towards the shoreline.

2. At the shoreline path, turn right and keep going. Just before you reach the big accommodation boat for Christian Youth Enterprises (B) , the path turns inland. Carefully follow the footpath signs around the buildings and activity fields of the two sailing centres. You will shortly come onto a hard surfaced path through a dinghy park.

3. The path then turns left towards the shoreline. This section is suitable for wheelchairs. It was opened in 1988 on land kindly donated by Martin Beale, whose family still live at
Cobnor House.

4. Keep on the path, there are a number of benches along this route for a break and to enjoy the view. The path eventually leads down a few steps to the shoreline. Turn right along the shore. Once you have passed the shoreline oaks, climb back up onto the bank. Take the footpath that heads inland to the right of the fence (C) .

5. When the path reaches the shoreline, turn right and look out for the footpath sign to the right (D) . The path goes down a few steps and turns back on itself. Turn left at the field edge to walk inland across fields. At the road, turn right. You will shortly come to some houses and then the Old House at Home pub.

6. Past the pub the road bears to the left. Take time to visit the church and look out for their collection of historical ‘teasel people’. Just before the church there is a footpath on the right (E). Keep on this wide grassy path as it wiggles around fields.

7. On the straight section with electricity poles look out for the small unsigned path on the left leading back to the road. Turn right to return to the car park.

DISTANCE: 5 miles
OS MAPS: Ordnance Survey Explorer 120 Chichester
STARTING POINT: Cobnor Farm Amenity car park.
HOW TO GET THERE: From Chichester, take the A259 towards Emsworth. Turn south to Chidham onto Chidham Lane. Keep on this road signposted towards Chidham East. After a mile turn left into the Amenity car park. If you reach the sign for Cobnor House you have gone too far.

TIDES
Please note some paths are flooded at high tide. If you have misjudged the times, you usually only have to wait a short while before the path is clear enough to use. Tide times can be found at www.conservancy.co.uk or from the Harbour Office; please note these are only a prediction and factors such as low pressure can make the tide higher than expected. The shoreline section to the southwest floods when the tide is 4.5m or higher. Aim to reach it two hours before or after high tide.



Hidden Surrey

The Community Foundation model is a global, philanthropic movement operating in over 1,800 communities worldwide. In the UK, there are 46 Community Foundations. At the heart of the concept is the simple theme of ‘local giving for local need’.

Laura Thurlow, Chief Executive at the Community Foundation for Surrey, explains how the foundation is supporting many ‘hidden’ charities helping meet local needs that exist right on your doorstep.

When responding with the name of the organisation I am so delighted to work for, it is not uncommon to be greeted with a dazed expression. There are many local people still unaware of The Community Foundation for Surrey, despite the vital work we do in enabling local philanthropy and supporting hundreds of Surrey based charities and groups each year.

Perhaps this is because Surrey is predominantly thought to be one of the most affluent counties in the UK. But while parts of our county are rated as the best places to live, sadly our research, titled ‘Surrey Uncovered’, has revealed the very real needs that surround us.

Did you know that Surrey has one of the highest levels of domestic abuse? Or that, in some areas, income deprivation is affecting more than 30% of children? It is these needs which motivate us to raise awareness of the importance of philanthropy and encourage local people to get involved.

We work with donors who want to give back to their communities and voluntary groups providing vital services for local people and disadvantaged individuals. Companies, individuals, families and trusts can establish a fund with us, and we will work closely with them to help direct their giving to the causes and themes they care about in Surrey.

Last year, we awarded £1.2 million in grants to charities and groups working hard to better Surrey, that sadly often go unnoticed, despite making a significant impact within the local community. It is these ‘hidden’ charities making the biggest difference that we are so proud to support.

We are incredibly proud to have generated £22m across Surrey since our inception in 2005 and we are confident that, by inspiring more philanthropic individuals to become involved, it will not be long before we generate even more for our communities.

Whether you’re a local group looking for funding, or someone wanting to support the local community, we would love to hear from you, so please do get in touch!

For more informatiuon, email: info@cfsurrey.org.uk, phone 01483 478092 or visit the website at www.cfsurrey.org.uk.



For the love of cheese

Phil Kemp meets artisan cheesemakers Pam and Francis Gimblett

Operating from a well-equipped micro-dairy in the Surrey Hills near Haslemere, Pam and Francis Gimblett produce a fragrant soft washed-rind cheese they endearingly call Floyd, to their own unique recipe developed through sheer hard work and undoubtedly mixed with an intuitive creativity. Their cheese adventure has proven to be one full of challenges, many of which they hadn’t predicted, as Pam explains.

“When Francis first suggested we make cheese we thought six months down the line we’d be in production, but it was crazy to have assumed that. There is so much you have to learn, and the first time you make cheese there are lots of problems you have to solve, and faults you’ve got to refine. And that takes an awful amount of time.”

The couple complement each other perfectly as a team. Pam grew up on a farm, and Francis dreamt of being a chef. This personal chemistry eventually saw them create a successful business running cheese and wine events for over 20 years.

“Clients at these events asked us to provide a myriad of different accompaniments, and increasingly cheese,” said Pam. “So we did a lot of research into the cheeses we were providing, and it was on the way back from an event about five years ago that Francis posed the question: ‘Wouldn’t it be a natural progression that we start making our own cheese?’ – and I rather foolishly and naively said yes!” The Gimbletts both burst into laughter, which I sense was broadly congratulatory but perhaps tinged a little with the harsh reality of what this has involved.

“We did most of our research in France where we met with cheesemakers, making lots of friends along the way,” said

Francis. “We took little bits and pieces of their knowledge to gain an understanding of the nuts and bolts, and it was all about flavour really. We wanted to create something of our own, a cheese that is very complex in flavour, similar to a fine wine which gives a range of persistent and changing flavours.”

Milk of course is the core ingredient of cheese, and my question as to where they source their supplies was fascinating in itself. “Our milk comes from Pierrepont Farm in Frensham,” explained Pam. “Mike and Bev Clear are tenants of the farm’s owners, Countryside Restoration Trust, and their ethos is focused on the welfare of their herd of around 130 Jersey cows, all of which they know by name. The cows come in from the fields to be milked as and when they want, with milking done by robotic milking machines which for the cows’ welfare is very beneficial.”

I was now totally intrigued, and also becoming a tad distracted by a yearning to start exploring Floyd’s undoubtedly very individual flavour. Francis suggested a tour of the Gimblett cheese dairy which is compact but very well-equipped and carefully controlled, both in terms of temperature and hygiene.

“We collect our milk from the farm and heat it to about 38°. We add our starter cultures, which are lactic acid producing bacteria that provide flavour and also serve to make the cheese safe, and then the animal enzyme rennet which coagulates the milk into curd and adds flavour too.” Francis was guiding me around the dairy as he spoke, and we had paused by a collection of circular moulds. “We cut the curd into little cubes and stir to dispel the whey, with around a litre of milk producing one cheese. This is quite a high ratio compared to say a dry cheese like Cheddar as we retain a lot of moisture to give the gooeyness we need for our cheese. This is drained into these moulds to create a 200g cheese.”

Francis moved towards the first of two temperature-controlled rooms. “These are then kept for three or four days at around 18° which kickstarts the bacteria. Then we drop the temperature to 11° for about three weeks, washing the cheese in a solution of brine and diluted vodka. This discourages unwanted mould and yeast, encouraging the bacteria we had added which turns the cheese a pink-orange colour. We leave it a further week before finally chilling it down to about 5° so it is ready for sale.”

I then posed an impossible question, asking them to describe Floyd’s flavour. This was really a poorly disguised hint for a taste but I failed miserably by default. At the time of my visit the dairy was closed in readiness for some building work and the installation of new equipment, so I will have to wait until they are shortly back in production! But based on the tantalising way both Pam and Francis had attempted to convey its flavour exactly as you would taste it – which included wild-mushroomy, gamy, and even at times chocolatey – I will be eagerly joining you in the queues at the outlets where it is on sale. Check out where on their website.

Phil Kemp is a Godalming-based writer and photographer. www.weyriver.co.uk

Gimblett Cheese – www.gimblettcheese.co.uk
Pierrepont Farm – www.rawmilksurrey.co.uk
Pam and Francis are members of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association
www.specialistcheesemakers.co.uk