Weekend Walk: Midhurst, Stedham and Iping Commons (5.5 miles)

1. From the back left-hand side of the Iping and Stedham Commons car park, near a noticeboard, take a wide path marked as a bridleway. As the sign indicates, this is also part of the Serpent Trail (ST), a sinuous long-distance path which you will meet several times today. In 10m, avoid a right fork, staying on the main path. Shortly after, ignore a minor path that forks off left (part of the Heathland Trail, worth exploring another time). Keep following this sandy path across a gleaming landscape of gorse, heather and birch, avoiding all minor paths off, however tempting. In 300m or so, you pass a post with blue arrows and a sign confirming that you are still on the ST. 100m later, your path becomes grassy and you reach a definite fork in the path. Take the left fork, thus leaving the ST.

2. You are now on Fitzhall Heath and the outlook is more open with extensive sweeps of heather. In 300m, your path runs under a cover of pine trees. As you come out of the pines, you will see a concrete post on your right and a marker post on your left. Turn left here. In 150m, you reach a tarmac road. Cross straight over and take a footpath opposite, through dark laurels. This is the Fitzhall Plantation, part of a large estate from early Elizabethan times. Ignore several paths off and keep straight on, uphill through rhododendrons. In 200m or so, you reach an oblique T-junction. Turn left here on a wide dusky path. In 100m, it takes you past a large wooden gate to meet the driveway of Fitzhall. Cross straight over onto a track opposite and, in 15m, keep right to avoid a bridleway on your left. The track leads through a deep cutting in the sandstone and, after 150m, passes the entrance to a house. Keep left here, passing the garden of the house on your right. Just after the end of the garden you meet a three-way fingerpost.

3. Keep left at the fingerpost on a path curving uphill. This is a lovely spot and at the top there are views across the green horse pastures to the South Downs. Your path leads between two posts into a pinewood. At a 3-way fingerpost, keep straight ahead, ignoring the left turn. Your path is lined by rhododendrons (now regarded as an invasive species) and any mud in the path can usually be avoided through the trees on your right. This is followed by an area of light birch and you may glimpse on your left the large sandpit formed from Minsted Quarry. At the end of the first field on your right, you meet a 3-way fingerpost. Turn right here. Follow this wide track, bearing left past a small piggery and farm cottages, to reach the Minsted Road. Turn right on the road.

4. In 70m, turn left on a wide track marked as a footpath. The track zigzags to a small farmstead. Keep left past a cottage to reach two metal gates. Go through the right-hand gate and straight on along the left-hand side of a crop field. You now have great views right to the South Downs. Behind you, to the right, is Minsted House. After a kissing-gate, your route is across a grassy patch to a strong metal gate. Go through the gate (being careful to open forwards) and over a sturdy bridge into the pinewoods of The Warren. In 100m or so, just before a hillock and a marker post, take the left fork, a long straight path between tall ranks of pine and birch. Soon the path becomes raised and brick-lined, suggesting its historical usage. You reach a tarmac drive by the well-named Oakwood House. Turn left to a tarmac road and cross straight over into a small parking area.

5. Avoid the path straight ahead by a large metal gate and instead take a path on the left, between two wooden posts into Midhurst Common. Just 10m later, take the more prominent right fork, a winding woodland path. In 100m, as your path goes under power lines, go straight across a path that runs beside the power lines. Your path immediately curves left and gets much wider and clearer, running not far from those power lines on your left. The path rises gently to give you views of the open heath on your left and the forest on your right. As the path rises more steeply, you pass under a pair of overhead wires and your path forks at a marker post. Choose the left-hand option – a steep narrow sandy path. In 70m, avoid a level path on your left and keep climbing! In another 70m, you reach the top and the reason for this choice is clear.

6. After a possible breather, continue straight ahead on the high path, still enjoying open views on your left. In 100m, you pass another seat. Bear right, as indicated by a marker post with a yellow arrow, on a wide path through woodland. In 100m, you are joined from the left by another path at a marker post. Continue straight on, avoiding all paths off. You come down to a garden hedge belonging to a house, Cherries, where you meet a path coming from the right. Bear left beside the hedge. In 80m, continue straight on by a marker post, ignoring a footpath on your left. Immediately your path forks. Take the left fork, the narrower option, actually straight ahead. In 150m, you reach a small clearing with another seat and a 4-way fingerpost. Turn left here on a path, signed as a bridleway. In 40m, the path splits: take the right fork, the footpath, marked by a (possibly hidden) yellow arrow. This path leads down to the main road opposite the Half Moon pub. For refreshments, first cross with care!

7. Without crossing the main road (except to visit the pub), turn left for 25m and fork left at a fingerpost on a tarmac drive marked as a footpath. Immediately ignore a blue arrow and bridleway on your left and stay on the drive as it gradually diverges from the main road. As you pass some cottages, immediately after the brown-coloured White House, ignore a footpath on your left. After the entrance to The Severals, your path suddenly becomes a narrow woodland path. In only 30m, you meet a 3- way fingerpost. Go right here up a bank onto a path that runs beside the wire fence of The Severals. Your path, which may seem a little obscure in parts, veers right by a wooden shed and comes out onto the house’s driveway. Veer left on the drive. In 50m, ignore a footpath on your left, re-joining the ST. In another 50m or so, where the drive curves away right, leave it by continuing straight ahead on a narrower path, as indicated by a yellow arrow.

8. You are in a wondrous pine forest, a particularly attractive part of this walk. In 100m or so on this curving path, you reach a 4-way fingerpost. Go straight over, passing under HT lines. After 200m on this straight trail, you reach the Severals Road. Cross straight over onto a permissive path. In 50m or so, you reach a multiple fork with three paths ahead. Take the rightmost path and follow this rough, sometimes grassy, course through bracken and firs, ignoring a path on the left at a fork. In 400m, at a marker post, keep straight on, thus re-joining the ST. The path goes down through a cleared space to a T-junction. Turn right on this path to reach a tarmac drive after 200m or so, audibly close to the main road again. Turn left on the drive, going over a bridge.

9. Just after the bridge, turn left on a track and immediately turn right on a woodland path. In only 50m, at a marker post with blue arrows, turn right on a narrower path uphill (don’t miss this turn!), still on the ST. The path runs uphill under tall straight pines, leading to a heather-covered plateau. You soon reach the Minsted Road. Cross the road to go through a wooden gate and take a sandy path across Stedham Common. Keep straight ahead all the way across this landscape, crossing under wires, through a woodland ofbirch and pine, across the open heath, skirting groups of pines and finally through more woodland to a wooden gate and the road opposite the car park where the walk began.

DISTANCE: 5.5 miles
MAP: OS Explorer 133 (Haslemere)
START: The free Iping and Stedham Commons car park, on the Elsted Road, just off the A272 near Midhurst, West Sussex. There are no buildings nearby but nearest postcode is GU29 0PB.

Taken with permission from www.fancyfreewalks.org.uk



5 Parma Ham recipes for any summer dining occasion…

Melon & Parma Ham Panzanella

Serves 4

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 600g cherry tomatoes, a variety of colours, halved
  • 250g sourdough, cut into 2-3cm chunks
  • 100ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Cantaloupe melon, cut into 12 wedges,
    deseeded and rind removed
  • 8 slices Prosciutto di Parma
  • bunch of basil, roughly torn

For the dressing

  • 1 enchillon shallot, finely sliced into rings
  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp agave syrup

METHOD

  1. To make the dressing slice the shallot and add to a bowl with the vinegar, then set aside for 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip the tomatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and set aside too.
  3. In a separate large bowl mix the sourdough, 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and a little salt. Tip onto a parchment lined tray and bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove and leave to cool.
  4. Add the remaining oil and agave to the bowl with the shallot to make the dressing.
  5. Set aside 8 of the smallest melon wedges and roughly chop the rest. Add the chopped melon, the croutons and most of the dressing to the bowl with the tomatoes, then stir through most of the basil.
  6. Transfer to a serving platter or divide between plates. Wrap each melon wedge in a slice of Prosciutto di Parma and arrange on top of the salad, drizzle with the remaining dressing, scatter over the remaining basil and serve.

Potato salad with crispy Parma Ham

Serves 6-8

Prep: 15 minutes, plus cooling
Cook: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1kg new potatoes, chopped into smaller chunks
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 6 slices Prosciutto di Parma
  • 125g mayonnaise
  • 125g Greek yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp capers, drained and roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped dill, plus extra to serve
  • 4 tbsp chopped chives, plus extra to serve
  • half a lemon, for squeezing
  • 3 sticks celery, finely chopped
  • 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped

METHOD

  1. Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 8-10 mins or until cooked through – a cutlery knife should easily pierce them. Drain and leave to cool in a colander.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and cook the Prosciutto di Parma until beginning to crisp, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to cool and crisp further, then break into pieces.
  3. To make the dressing, in a large bowl mix together the mayonnaise, yoghurt, capers, dill, chives, seasoning and a good squeeze of lemon juice to taste.
  4. Tip the potatoes and celery into the dressing and gently stir to combine, then fold in the egg.
  5. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with a little dill and chives and the crispy Prosciutto di Parma. When transporting for a picnic, keep the crispy Prosciutto di Parma in a separate container so it stays nice and crisp.

Parma Ham, red onion & olive focaccia

Cuts into 12-15

Prep: 25 minutes, plus rising and proving
Cook: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for kneading
  • 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
  • 8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  • 2 red onions, each cut into 8 wedges
  • 4 sprigs rosemary, split into smaller sprigs
  • 20 green olives, pitted
  • 8-10 slices Prosciutto di Parma

METHOD

  1. Tip the flour into a large bowl, add the yeast to one side of the flour and 1 tsp fine salt to the other side, then mix everything together. Make a well in the center and measure in 4 tbsp olive oil, then gradually add 300ml lukewarm water, mixing until you have a slightly sticky dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and stretchy, then shape into a ball – if you have a stand mixer add the dry and wet ingredients to the bowl and let the dough hook do the hard work. Pop the dough into a large oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
  2. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Grease and line a large roasting tin – about 20cm x 30cm. Gently lift the dough into the tin, stretching and pushing it into the corners. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove again in a warm place for 35-45 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile mix together the onion wedges, rosemary and olives in a bowl together with 1 tbsp olive oil.
  4. Uncover the dough, make a few indentations into the surface using your hands, then scatter over the onions, rosemary, olives, and their oil pushing them into the indentations. Rub each slice of Prosciutto di Parma in the onion bowl to coat in a little
  5. Oil then arrange on top, nestling in and tucking under some of the onion, scatter with a little coarse sea salt, avoiding the Prosciutto di Parma. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30- 40minutes, or until the bread is golden.
  6. Remove from the oven and quickly drizzle over the 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil while it’s still hot. Leave to cool then cut into squares before wrapping up and taking on your picnic.

Heritage tomato, goat’s cheese & Parma Ham galette

Serves 4-6

Prep: 30 minutes, plus chilling

Cook: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 250g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 150g unsalted butter, fridge cold, cubed
  • 1 tbsp oregano leaves, roughly chopped
  • 2 medium eggs

For the filling:

  • 2 large heritage beefsteak tomatoes,
    thickly sliced
  • 350g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 150g soft goat’s cheese
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbsp oregano leaves,
    finely chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
  • 5-6 slices Prosciutto di Parma
  • Extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

  1. To make the pastry, put the flour, butter and 1/4 tsp fine salt into a large bowl, then using your fingertips rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir through the oregano leaves, then add 1 beaten egg and mix to a dough, adding a few tsps of water if needed. Bring the dough together with your hands, knead briefly and shape into a round. Wrap in a large sheet of baking parchment and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, lay the tomato slices and cherry tomatoes (cut side down) onto sheets of kitchen roll and top with more kitchen roll, so that any excess liquid can be absorbed.
  3. In a small bowl mix together the goat’s cheese, garlic, chopped oregano and seasoning.
  4. Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Remove the pastry from the fridge and unwrap. Roll out on the baking parchment to a rough 30-35cm round. Spread the cheese mix over the base, leaving a 3-4cm border all the way around. Layer the large tomatoes over the cheese, then top with the cherry tomatoes. Fold the pastry edges in over the filling. Beat the remaining egg and use to brush the exposed pastry.
  5. Drizzle the tomatoes with a little oil, season and bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden. Leave to cool to room temperature, then garnish with slices of Prosciutto di Parma, oregano leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with a green salad and balsamic dressing.

Creamy green Parma Ham carbonara

Serves 4 

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 300g linguine
  • 150g frozen peas
  • 200g Tenderstem broccoli, cut into smaller pieces
  • 100g creme fraiche
  • 3 eggs
  • 75g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 200g baby spinach, roughly chopped/shredded
  • zest 1/2 lemon, plus extra to serve,
    and the lemon cut into wedges to serve
  • 8 slices Prosciutto di Parma, roughly torn

METHOD

  1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions, adding the peas and broccoli for the last 3 minutes. Drain reserving three ladlefuls of water.
  2. Meanwhile whisk together the creme fraiche, eggs and Parmesan, and set aside. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the garlic cooking until golden. Tip in the drained pasta and vegetables, then add the spinach, stirring until beginning to wilt. Pour in the cheese and egg mixture and a ladle or two of pasta water, then turn off the heat. Stir until the eggs have cooked in the heat of the pasta, and you have a nice sauce, add a little more pasta water if needed.
  3. Add the lemon zest then stir in Prosciutto di Parma. Divide between plates and top with grated Parmesan, extra lemon zest, black pepper, and lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Recipes by Emily Kydd 
Photography by Tim Atkins 



Feed the bees this summer – 5 flowers to plant for a bee-friendly garden

Honeybees are wonders of nature. You may see them buzzing happily from flower to flower at this time of year — but that’s just one pollination pitstop, as honeybees can cover an impressive three miles in one trip foraging for sticky nectar! Their hard work doesn’t stop there; a strong colony of around 60,000 bees will travel the equivalent distance from earth to the moon every day!*

In turn, honeybees are responsible for pollinating a third of the fruit and vegetables we consume. They produce delicious honey for us to enjoy too, as the UK’s favourite honey brand Rowse knows only too well! In fact, different flowers produce very distinct flavours, some light and citrussy, others rich and earthy — but all utterly delicious! In their lifetime, 12 honeybees will produce a teaspoon of yummy honey for us to drizzle, spread and ultimately enjoy. Their collective impact on the environment and food production shouldn’t be underestimated.

Sadly however, the UK’s remarkable honeybees have been in long term decline. So, Rowse is passionately spearheading positive change for the bees through Hives for Lives, a program of vital initiatives that protects the bees and improves livelihoods through beekeeping.

The good news is, we can all play a vital role in protecting and saving this incredible species, from the comfort of our very own gardens. Planting certain seasonal flowers is kind to the bees and you’ll enjoy a ‘bee-autiful’ garden as a result! Watching your flora bloom and bees delighting in pollination is a highly rewarding experience — especially when our buzzing friends’ food is in short supply over summer.

Here are five bee-friendly flowers to plant that are perfect for this time of year and will create a buzzing haven for these vital pollinators:

1 – Lavender
The scent of lavender is as lovely as its pretty purple flowers. This plant can live for years, flourishing best when planted in a sunny spot, especially through June and July. With many flowers and a high nectar content, our buzzing friends are bound to make a beeline. This plant is popular with other pollinators too; bumblebees spend 1 – 1.14 seconds per lavender flower, while honeybees delight in its pollen for 3.5 seconds.

Top tip — from ‘bee’ to you: Lavender can also aid sleep, with its distinct scent believed to help invoke feelings of calm.

2 – Borage
Borage is an annual plant which grows very quickly from seed. This plant also re-seeds itself, so can easily be grown the next year simply by allowing the seedlings to grow, or they can be transplanted. Borage is a hotspot for honeybees because its flowers replenish nectar often. Therefore, our buzzing friends can frequently and reliably return to feed. For this reason, borage attracts other insects like butterflies too.

Top tip — from ‘bee’ to you: The beautiful blue flowers that bloom on borage are the perfect addition to a summery cocktail or mocktail. Young borage leaves also add texture to fresh salads.

3 – Marjoram
Marjoram has pretty pinky white flowers which look lovely in the garden. It is great for alluring a whole host of nature’s little visitors, from honeybees to bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies. It blooms in summer when the bee food supply is most stretched and is also easy to grow.

Top tip — from ‘bee’ to you: Marjoram belongs to the same family as oregano, so is delicious on a pizza, with roasted meats or in soups — a little goes a long way as far as flavour’s concerned! Marjoram tea is also popular, made using dried herbs, hot water and of course, honey.

4 – Helianthus (Sunflowers)
Helianthus — otherwise known as sunflowers — bloom for several months throughout the year, starting in August. This terrific, towering plant makes a real statement in the garden and will certainly catch a honeybee’s attention! Its vibrant yellow petals also attract bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies to the hundreds of tiny tubular flowers in the middle of the flower. This centre is brimming with nectar, which is the main source of carbohydrates for our buzzing friends, as well as fluffy protein-packed pollen that collects on their bodies.

Sunflowers are also considered to be ‘low-infection’ flowers; their pollen has medicinal and protective effects on bees, helping to improve bee colony health.

Top tip — from ‘bee’ to you: Sunflowers are easy to grow and impressively reach up to two metres tall! Why not challenge your family to a fun competition, to see who can grow the tallest sunflower?

5 – Fleabane
Fleabane belongs to the daisy family. This delicate British wildflower can be planted in grass or flower beds. Fleabane produces a mass of lovely white flowers that may be tinged by lilac or yellow, with a sunny centre that entices honeybees, bumble bees, flies and butterflies. A perennial plant that flourishes from late spring to autumn, fleabane is an oasis for honeybees at cooler times of the year when flowers are sparser.

Top tip — from ‘bee’ to you: This low-maintenance plant is ideal for filling bare spots beneath shrubs and trees, or along path edges.

This beautiful bunch of flowers can rejuvenate your garden but, importantly, protect the honeybee population at their busiest time of year. Planting flowers takes time and patience, so an advised first step is to let your lawn grow a little longer. Plantlife’s Every Flower Counts survey showed that this simple change can generate enough nectar for ten times more bees and other pollinators. Even a little patch can increase nectar sources.

Gardening is such a fulfilling activity; but knowing you’ve created a honeybee haven to help keep the world’s biggest workforce happy and healthy, and our fruit and veg pollinated, will make it even sweeter!

*The British Beekeepers Association, 2020. How far does a bee fly & how does it navigate? www.bbka.org.uk/how-far-does-a-bee-fly-how-does-it-navigate



No fault divorce – an end date

In June 2019 the Secretary of State introduced a ground-breaking new Bill into the House of Commons. The “Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill”.   A full year later in June 2020 the No Fault Divorce Bill gained Royal Assent.  Initially it was anticipated that this would come into effect in Autumn 2021 but the Government have pushed this back due to “technical issues” with the online divorce system.   A disappointment to many, but now the government have committed to 6th April 2022 to bring the Act into force.

This means that this country is one step closer to a significant change for divorcing couples moving forward.   The new law will allow one party or a couple jointly to apply for a divorce making a statement of “irretrievable breakdown”.   Under the current system, which came into force over 47 years ago in 1973, one spouse usually has to “blame” the other by giving details of unreasonable behaviour or adultery or otherwise they must wait for between 2-5 years separation before a divorce can be granted.   The No Fault Divorce Bill was submitted as a method to end the “blame game” that currently exists for separating couples.

It is anticipated that there will be a new minimum timeframe of 6 months from the initial divorce application to the grant of a divorce.  This is intended to offer the divorcing couple sufficient time to then make arrangements for their future and about financial issues, children matters etc.

This is a real and significant change in the law for divorcing couples in the UK. The majority of family lawyers – DPM Legal included – welcome a modern and non confrontational approach of a no fault divorce which will undoubtedly help to reduce conflict between couples which only has a damaging effect on them, their children and families.

Options are still available for you in the meantime and if you would like to talk to us about divorce or separation and consider your options we offer an initial 30-45 min consultation free of charge either face to face or by video/telephone call.

Please contact us on 01483 521597 or visit www.dpmlegal.co.uk.



Weekend Walk: Two family walks (2 miles and 2.5 miles)

Abinger Roughs
This gentle stroll is a walk to be savoured, enjoying the delights as the woods come to life in spring. Abinger Roughs is known for its rhododendron ramble and the bluebells, and is also a wonderful place to listen out for songbirds in the spring and early summer.

1. From the car park take the path through the fence at the opposite end of the car park from the road. You’ll walk through some open woodland with some beautiful beech trees – their leaves in spring are a wonderful fresh green colour. Continue to follow the main path through grass. Some 300 yards from the start you will see some magnificent old beech trees on your left hand side. Look out for the Witches Broom tree. Just past here you will go down a small slope and meet a track crossing your path.
2. Following the sandy track you’ll see our 200 year old Scots and Corsican pine trees. We manage this area so that the best specimens grow strongest and tallest.
3. The Rhody Ramble sign points to the entrance into the rhododendron wood – a fantastic place for hide and seek. These rhododendrons were planted in the 19th century by Thomas Farrer of Abinger Hall. Over time they have become somewhat overgrown. From the Rhody Ramble sign, continue your walk along the main path so you can also see the bluebells. The path will come out in a wide open area.
4. You have reached the open glade. To your left, over the greensand ridge, rises the Hurtwood (an area of heath and forest). Continue to the edge of the glade and a junction of paths. Take the second fork to the left along a glorious undulating path curving to the right and rising to a path signposted “the Snowdrop Trail”. Follow the path downhill to a gate and then a bench where the path turns sharply right and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see the bluebells on either side of the path. You’ll pass through a gate and, keeping parallel to the hedge on your left, you’ll come to a T-junction by an open gate. Turn right here along the rough track and up the slope to the trees.
5. Turn right and go up the broad sandy path back to the edge of the wood, where there is a wonderful view of the North Downs. At the cross roads take the path marked by a Nature Trail marker, which goes down a slope with a fence on your left hand side.
6. Continue to follow the signs for the Nature Trail along the ‘Mayor’s path’. See the rhododendrons which were planted years ago to form a wilderness garden by Thomas Farrer, who owned the Roughs in the late 19th century. Follow the path through the rhododedrons until you come out into a wider more open area.
7. As you come out of the Rhododendrons you will see great views up to the North downs on your left. In front of you is the second patch of bluebells. The path bends round to the right and you will come out to some holly bushes on the main path. Turn left here to descend down the path.
8. Keep to the left path as you go through the narrow ‘neck’ of Abinger Roughs. Keep on the path that runs parallel to the fence. To your left are the North downs. Continue along the path as it goes thorough the woodland ignoring paths to the right. You will come out of the woods into a more open space.
9. In this open space, there are some memorials to life here in the past. The old farm to your left is Leaser’s Barn which has been used for lambing for centuries. The granite cross is the Wilberforce Memorial. Take a moment to stop and read the inscription. Then walk up the path running past the memorial and head back to the car park.

2 miles. Start: National Trust car park, White Downs Lane, Abinger Hammer. Nearest postcode RH5 6QS

Leith Hill woodland walk
Enjoy an exhilarating walk at Leith Hill, which has been a popular picnic spot since the 19th century.

1. From the carpark, cross the road and follow the orange marked trail into woodland.
2. This track leads you down through the woodland where, in the autumn, you can hear roving flocks of woodland birds including nuthatches, coal tits and treecreepers. ‘The Woodland Trail offers a lovely walk at all times of year with autumn being particularly stunning due to the the turning colours of the trees.’ Paul Redsell, Countryside Manager, Surrey Hills West.
3. At the junction of tracks take the second left through the Lime Avenue, planted as part of the original estate landscape. The path takes you past the walled garden on the right and to the road where you should turn left carefully heading down the road for 55yd (50m) before heading right into the farmland over the stile.
4. Follow straight ahead in front of Leith Hill Place on your right and admire the stunning views across the parkland and southwards over the Weald onto the ridge of the South Downs. Pass through the kissing gate and cross the second field to the gate just below the pond. Once through the gate you will pass through woodland. Bear right and follow the straight track ahead of you.
5. Follow this track which bends right and heads uphill. Bear right, following the signs which lead you through the rhododendron wood and up through the car park to the road.
6. Turn right from the car park and then left up a couple of steps, being careful when crossing the road. Once across the road follow the path heading left up alongside the sandstone wall. This path will lead you all the way up through woodland to the tower.
7. Reward yourself with some light refreshments from the servery whilst enjoying the stunning views of inner London looking north and the English Channel to the south, through Shoreham Gap some 25 miles (40km) away. To learn more about the area, and enjoy the spectacular panoramic view from the top battlements, why not enter the tower. To return to the car park head down from the tower, turning left with your back to the noticeboard following the rail around to the top of the steps. Carefully take the steps back to the car park.

2.5 miles. Start: Windy Gap car park, near Coldharbour village, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6LX.

Both walks are taken from the National Trust: www.nationaltrust.org.uk