Tilford (Waverley Abbey to Frensham Little Pond)

Waverley Abbey

We met up with friends to continue a series of very good walks in Surrey - previously we had done Box Hill and Leith Hill. The walk starts a couple of miles south east of Farnham at the car park near the ruins of Waverley Abbey. The first sight you see however is one of several war time pillboxes which are a feature of the area. I made some notes about them on an earlier walk along the Kennet and Avon canal.

We began with a detour to see the abbey ruins, first walking along the banks of the Wey with the handsome Georgian Waverley Abbey House on the opposite bank. It is now a training and conference centre, owned by CWR, a "christian charitable organisation" according to the house's website.



Pevsner describes Waverley House, as it was when he wrote about it in 1966, as "a puzzling house". The central porticoed part seems to have been built in 1723 by Colen Campbell for Aislabie, the Chancellor of The Exchecquer. The wings were added about 30 years later, but teh whole house is said to have been rebuilt - presumably exactly in 1833.

You reach a lovely bridge over the Wey and turn left to reach the abbey ruins (see above).



The abbey was founded in 1128 by the bishop of Winchester and was the first Cistercian abbey in England. the abbey church had a long nave with no aisles and squat square transepts. All that remains is one transept and parts of a couple of domestic buildings. This was part of the lay brothers' range.




The site is lovely, surrounded by woodland and fields, and included this splendid yew tree.



Returning to the car park to (finally) begin the walk proper, you cross the river Wey and walk along the road, eventually turning right into a byway through very pleasant woodland. This emerges onto a road which leads into Tilford. You cross the medieval bridge ...




... and walk alongside the large village green and up the hill, turning right into a track which takes you through woodland to reach Little Frensham Pond, originally a medieval fish pond.



The pond has the classic surroundings of sandy soil and pine trees. It looked positively Mediterranean in the unseasonal (and unexpected) sunshine.



From here another woodland trail and a bit more road led back to Tilford, where we had a light but restorative lunch in the delightful Barley Mow pub. "England as you expect it to be" justifiably proclaims its website. In the pub, we realised we had passed by the 800 year old Tilford Oak in our rush to reach the pub before it stopped serving food. It has been severely lopped and its trunk has been patched with iron sheets.

We returned along the side of the Wey valley and later along a delightful sunken lane through Sheephatch Copse.




From: 50 walks in Surrey (AA).

Map: Explorer 145 (Guildford and Farnham)

Distance: officially 6 miles, but seemed to be nearer 7 with our diversion.

Rating: four stars. Lots of interest and variety. An oasis of peace, although not that deeply in the country.


Reflections

This is probably the first time that a detour at the start of a walk has been given more attention than the walk itself. But there is a lot to be said for starting walks in places which are inherently interesting and attractive. Our recent walk from Dorchester and one I did in August from Fairford would be good examples.