Hi Guys I did this walk back in January and yes the golf course has been sold for housing development. The lovely chest nut trees are gone. Fences everywhere but there is a path but rather restricted path. It was extremely muddy in winter due to the extensive digging etc. Still a very good walk for Boundary 6 with fair bit of hills to challenge you. Should have some good bluebell patches as I recall about 5 years when I did it in blue bell season. Did the Holmwood to Gomshall with Leith rhododenrous extension. Flowers still got a week to go before full bloom. Sorry Marcus I skip your Tring walk. Enjoy the Knockholt walk as I did.
Monica.
P/S Walker saw 2 types of violet common dog violet and wood violet.

I belatedly realised that the best ticket for this walk would have been a six zone travelcard purchased with a Network Card £8.60 or so: a big discount on the £12.80 daily cap for zone 1 to 6 on Oyster. Oh well...

14 assembled on the platform for this walk and one late starter caught us at lunch, so 15 in all. Odd spots of rain early on and a teensy bit of brightness in the early afternoon apart, the weather was cool grey cloud. A bit disappointing. Only one inert butterfly seen and birdsong was very muted: a big contrast to last weekend.

The fenced bit across the now abandoned (yippee!) golf course was just a line of fence posts, which helpfully indicated the path. If there are indeed plans to build housing here, there is no sign of any progress being made. In truth more housing might cheer the rather nothing y area around the station up. Any chance that the development could include a cafe open to 7pm, do you think?

In Downe the George & Dragon had five frowning locals: the Queen’s Head was much more inviting and served nice food cheerfully. Its most famous regular (a former leader of UKIP) has not been seen for a while, apparently.

Thus far we had had some nice ish patches of bluebells and an encounter with three cheerful goats, plus two dogs who had a trick of throwing their toy over the fence for passers by to throw back. But as the walk poster I worried that we might not get any big hitting bluebell woods. But mid afternoon we came upon a stunner just by Let’s Green. Two walkers did a short cut at this point.

For the rest of us well, OK, mainly for me the big anxiety after this was whether we would get to tea in time, but we did, arriving at 4pm and managing to penetrate the vast and extravagantly well stocked labyrinth that is Coolings Garden Centre to find its lovely self service tea room. Nice cakes, big pots of tea. Then down to the station to get whatever train we got. Perhaps they could also add a pub to that housing development so the walking day does not have to end so abruptly.

Thank you for the ticket advice, will be useful for future walks.

Ok thanks Mr M Tiger for your message. Just wondering since there's no booking system etc I may change my mind and do the Knockhold Circular. Are you doing this walk too?
Pleas let me know as soon as you can, sorry this is SO late

Yes, and as often as you like!

Our walk's don't have leaders, so the walk poster doesn't necessarily do the walk. As we don't do prior reservations, its pot luck how many turn up.

Saturday's walks has 14, 16, 30 (a holiday) & 10

My extensive network of spies has notified me there were 9 (+ 1 woofer) on this walk. Some, apparently, were refugees from the hot and sunny conditions expected on the Deal Dover walk.

8 attended. Cloudy most of the day, sunny late afternoon.

8 cloudy most of the day sunny late afternoon

20 on this walk including one late starter and one who parked somewhere and was with us at lunch and for a while after. There was a brief flicker of sun as we got off the train, but alas, it was not to be. Instead we had drizzle with increasing showers, the latter after lunch. On the plus side it was mild and really nothing like as muddy as it ought to have been.

Springlike signs were there for the sharp eyed and eared. I was almost certainly the only person to be excited by seeing dog's mercury shoots in the woods but a large flock of bleating and very pregnant ewes being led to the lambing shed promised happier times to come. Larks also sang along with song thrushes and one blackbird.

The George and Dragon in Downe was surprised to get a dozen of us for lunch "All I served yesterday was one cheese sandwich" the landlady was heard to say. But the kitchen still produced tasty food with decent despatch and at rock bottom prices. Some also tried the Queen's Head, though if its most famous local (one N Farage Esq) was there, I do not know.

In the afternoon I got left behind and so took a short cut to tea. Five or six others penetrated the many zones of Cooling's Nursery to join me in its very nice cafe. Later some tried both the Cock Inn and the Rose and Crown in Halstead. Both are locals pubs, though not unfriendly. The R&C is a 1970s time warp but had good beer, the cognoscenti tell me. A nun at the next table seemed to be enjoying it too. The four of us who sampled its wares walked in the dark across the golf course to get the 18.43 train, the extraordinary glow of London on the horizon producing an effect a little like pale moonlight.