Section 23 (Out)
South Nutfield to Irons Bottom
Walk Details
| Map | OS Explorer 146 (Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate) |
|---|---|
| Distance/Time | 5.5 Miles/3 Hours |
| Start | By the Station Pub(formerly Hotel) alongside main road and just south of railway station. |
| Comment | This is a walk with constraints imposed by the necessity to cross main roads, railways and the River Mole. A small amount of road walking is required and some dual use of paths but there is some excellent rolling Surrey countryside to compensate. Be aware that in winter months and after heavy rain many of the paths will be extremely muddy. The section to Sidlow Bridge is subject to flooding in extreme weather; the only alternative is to walk up the road to Dovers Green and back down the A217, a 1.5 mile diversion; hopefully a rare occurrence. |
Walk Instructions
Starting from the main road with the garden of the ‘Station Pub’ on your right, turn right, off the main road, to reach the front of the pub. Here there is a junction of roads. Turn left, away from the pub, down The Avenue. Follow this treelined road down to a T-junction by a church.
Turn sharp right and walk along the road for some way, past houses on your right to a crossroads at Kings Mill. Turn left here up Kings Mill Lane (the junction is offset; you can cut off the corner up the old road). Walk carefully up the lane using what verges there are. Pass business units on your left. Halfway up the hill (by the entrance to Hamme House) turn right off the road over a stile in to a large field on a footpath which is part of the Greensand Way.
Go on for some way with a hedge on your right. At the end of the field, go through a wide gap into the next field. Turn immediately left, uphill, with a hedge on your left. In the top corner, cross a stile into a grassy area, with buildings over on your right. Keep on in the same direction as before with a hedge on your left. Ignore a path coming in on the left and keep on to a stile just in front of a house ahead.
Cross the stile and turn right on an enclosed path which might be rather overgrown. This zig-zags out to a driveway. Cross over to a stile and continue downhill to a stile in the middle of the hedge at the far side of the field.
Cross the stile, ignore a path going off left, and continue in the same direction over stiles and footbridges traversing three more fields to finally reach a road at Whitehills. Turn left on the road (there is a pavement) and walk uphill for some way. Cross a side road and keep on up to the very last house on your right.
Immediately past this turn right on a vehicle entrance. Soon reach a fieldgate on your left and a kissing gate next to it. Go through to join a pleasant woodland path. Eventually leave the bluebell woods over a stile into a field. Follow the hedge on your left to a further stile. Cross and continue down to a footbridge and then on down towards a wide stream. Just before reaching the stream at the bottom turn right across the field to a gateway and stile by the end of a hedge and a line of trees.
Go uphill with the hedge and treeline on your right to a stile at the top. Cross and drop down to a bridleway which can be muddy. Turn right up it for a few paces then left over a stile into a field. Go diagonally right across the centre of the field to a stile in the far corner. Climb steps to a railway crossing. (Cross here with utmost care. There are four fast lines here and two or three trains may speed past at the same time. Do not attempt to cross if a train is in sight, look both ways constantly and cross as quickly as possible.)
At the far side drop down to an enclosed path leading to a residential road. Turn left along this to a junction with the main A23. Turn right up the main road. Soon reach a road crossing with central refuge. Cross carefully to the far side and turn right a few metres uphill to a Y-fork of roads.Go left up Woodhatch Road (there is a pavement).
At the top of the rise turn left off the road down a drive to Brookside Farm (there is a wooden fingerpost with a feint path behind it; use this if the official route is waterlogged). Walk up the drive for a short distance looking for a footpath going off right over a plank bridge into bushes. Cross common land and pass a cricket pitch on your right to eventually reach the edge of a wood. Enter the wood through a metal kissing gate and follow a clear path for ½ mile through the wood, ignoring paths off on the right.
Leave the wood by a stile and continue on an enclosed grassy path to a stile by a wooden fieldgate onto a road. Turn left on the road for ¼ mile passing Lonesome Farm on your left. Descend to cross a stream then go uphill to reach Brook Cottage on your left.
Here turn right, off the road, up the bank, to a stile in the hedge. Cross the field beyond to a stile by a fieldgate. Keep straight ahead over a long field to a substantial footbridge over the River Mole. Beyond is an enclosed path between hedges which emerges onto the A217 road.
Cross with care to a gap into a field opposite. Walk away from the road down the field edge with a hedge and trees on your left (the path may not be reinstated through crops). At the end of the field by power lines reach a junction of paths. Turn right through a large gap into a field and immediately left to walk along the top edge with woods on your left. At the end of the field, cross a stile into a field beyond. Immediately turn right down the field edge to a metal barrier and out to a road. Turn left along the road for some way to reach ‘The Three Horseshoes’ at Irons Bottom and the end of the section.
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