The Greensand Ridge serves as an inner lining to the chalk wall of the North Downs. It is arguably a finer ridge than that of the Downs, with broader views, uncluttered and crisply outlined with the Weald of Kent and Surrey holding the eye to the south; a patchwork of meadow, field and woodland, a tartan predominantly green.
Although there are several small towns and numerous villages settled in it, the great virtue of the Greensand Way is that they are lost in a blanket of foliage to the point that the landscape appears deserted.
The Kent section was the last to be opened (in 1989).
At 965 feet (nearly 300m), Leith Hill is reached from Holmbury in less than an hour. It is fondly referred to as Little Switzerland. There stands a 60 foot tower raised more than 200 years ago by Richard Hull, the eccentric squire of Leith Hill Place who is said to be buried upside down beneath it. The vista is of amazing proportions and includes 'The Channel' which may be seen to the south (through the Shoreham Gap), in the opposite direction 'The Chilterns' are visible and over 40 London Churches, including 'St Paul's', are visible to the north!
After leaving Surrey's much lauded summit, the views diminish as the track drops into the Holmesdale Valley and into Dorking with its many antique shops. The interruption of the town is soon left behind as you head across farmland to Brockham Green, so-named after the number of badgers that tunnelled near the banks of the River Mole. W. G. Grace regularly played cricket on Brockham's green.
The way from Brockham leads across the Mole and on to Reigate Heath with its lovely view of the Downs and its curious windmill which is owned by the local golf club and leased to the parish for occasional use as a church. It is just as well that congregations are dwindling because it only seats a handful!
The Surveyors of the pathway have minimised the intrusion of Reigate and Redhill on the Greensand Way. Countryside is soon restored and the path takes in Earlswood Common, an eighteenth century watermill and the village of South Nutfield.
On the edge of Bletchingly are few remains of the great castle that changed hands many times during the reign of King John. But the village itself is one of the loveliest of all in the Holmesdale Valley. Anne of Cleves lived at Bletchingly Place and Catherine of Aragon met Cardinal Wolsey here. The Way remains a little south of Bletchingly and strikes off eastward to the one street village of Tandridge which has a Norman Church, St. Peter's, famed for its wooden tower and peel of bells. Footpaths take you through Broadham Green and on to Limpsfield Common.
With the coming of the railway to Oxted in the nineteenth century, the beauties of the Greensand Ridge were discovered by the rich and influential. By the turn of the century, many noted figures including H. G. Wells, Galsworthy, Baden-Powell and William Cody (more popularly known as 'Buffalo Bill'), who is reputed to have been born in Clogheen, Co. Tipperary, in Ireland, had stayed in the town.
The Greensand Way veers from the scarp edge at Limpsfield, exchanging Wealden panoramas for views across the Holmesdale Valley to the wall of the North Downs. A broad track leads out of Surrey and into Kent between trim gardens, across a road that leads to Westerham and onto Crockham Hill Common and to the village for its shops, pub or a bed for the night.
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