Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 6 : Liphook to Haslemere
Shulbrede Priory & its woods
| Length | 15km (9.3 miles), 4 hours 30 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains and meals, allow 6 hours 30 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.186. Liphook, map reference SU 842 309, is in Hampshire, 15km south of Farnham. Haslemere is in Surrey. |
| Toughness | 5 out of 10. |
| Features | This walk can be muddy, especially the part after lunch, and has plenty of relatively mild uphill and downhill sections. It is almost entirely through full-grown mixed woods - mainly oak, beech and chestnut trees. After passing Shulbrede Priory in the middle of the woods, you come to the pub and church by the village green in Fernhurst. In the afternoon, you cross streams in the forest, before passing through Valewood Park and up into Haslemere, a town surrounded by beautiful countryside. |
| Shortening the Walk | There is an hourly bus service from Fernhurst (the halfway-mark lunchtime village) to Haslemere (the bus goes from the top of Hogs Hill Road in Fernhurst, along the A286). |
| History |
Shulbrede Priory is the remains of a priory for Augustinian regular canons dating from about 1200. It was dissolved in 1536, with the King's Commissioner alleging that 26 whores were found at the priory, and it is now a private house. The prior's chamber, above a vaulted undercroft, contains sixteenth-century wall paintings. The priory is open to visitors by appointment (tel 01428 653 049) and also on the Sunday and Monday of the late May and August bank holidays (admission is about £2.50). In Tudor and Stuart times Haslemere was a centre for the iron industry. With the coming of the railway in the mid-nineteenth century it became a popular spot for literary people. The poet Tennyson's house, Aldworth, is on the slopes of Black Down where he loved to walk; and George Eliot wrote Middlemarch in Shottermill. The town has an interesting museum up the High Street, 100 metres north of the Georgian Hotel. The museum is open 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday, and has a fine explanatory display of local wild flowers in the foyer. Other highlights include an Egyptian mummy showing the toes of one foot and an observation beehive. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime stop is the Red Lion pub (tel 01428 643 112), by the village green at Fernhurst, offering quality home cooking. It serves food until 2.30pm daily. Groups of more than 20 people should phone to book. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each February. |
| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
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Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
