With the start of some better weather, we've been able to go exploring a bit around the Oxted area. We had hoped to visit Titsey Place, which is a historic manor house situated at a short distance to the east of Oxted, but we discovered it doesn't open until mid-May. So we had to content ourselves with a walk around the estate.
There are two walks to choose from - the long one and the short one - but they both start by climbing a very steep slope to the top of the North Downs. The view from the highest spot on the trail was absolutely superb, down across Surrey and rolling green fields towards the South Downs and the sea.
Fortunately, it was a clear day, and many of the trees and hedges on the trail are still bare of leaves so we were able to appreciate the wonderful view. Titsey House is the big beige irregular block on the left of this photo. We'll go back again soon to do the long walk, we only managed the short one this time. And we'll go back when the house is open, as it dates back to the mid 1500s and sounds very interesting.
A few days later, we decided to take a look at Staffhurst Wood, which is only a few miles away, and which I thought might be a likely spot for bluebells. Staffhurst is thought to have been wooded continually for at least a thousand years, though this changed in the 1930s when much of the wood was felled for timber. More recently it has been managed to try and bring back something of its former character and It is now designated a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The trail is circular and is supposed to take about an hour and a half. It took us slightly longer, partly because we kept stopping to take photos. The bluebells were everywhere, under the trees and in all the open clearings.
and I could see they were mostly English bluebells, not Spanish ones.
Some of the bigger clearings were described as being like the original ‘assarts’ or forest clearings cut in this area, probably during the thirteenth century. In some there were ponds, though all seem to have been dug quite recently.
This rather pretty one was the smallest.
Another reason we were slower than expected on this walk was that some of it is over bridle-ways which had been badly cut up by horses' hooves during all the recent rain. Although it was mostly dry underfoot, the surface was so badly cut up it was hard to keep your footing. However, other parts of it were on a good hard surface, which made things easier. Some of it used a narrow tarmac road which was built during the Second World War when the wood was used to store ammunition. Other relics of the war include various defensive ditches and a hard track made of bricks and rubble from the London Blitz, which were recycled to provide foundations for a light railway system to serve the ammunition dump.
It is sad that such ancient forest was destroyed in the 1930s but at least I suppose it is on the way to being restored now.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment