Location for a home:  Highly regarded with outstanding rural homes in the neighbourhood  

Present Day Aspect and Character
Godalming is an attractive compact town of medieval origins on the Portsmouth Road in the deep curved valley of the River Wey.  As a result of its history this small market town is very appealing with plenty of character.  However, slightly 'old fashioned' high street shops are the obvious result of too few customers for the more 'exciting' retail outlets, so the town could be accused of being a little 'sleepy' now.  A market was first established at Godalming in 1300 and later the town was an important staging post between London and Portsmouth.   As a result a number of elegant 17th and 18th century shops and coaching inns can still be found in the High Street.   The water-meadows of the river lie just to the north of the town centre and are known as the " Lammaslands."  They provide a picturesque rural view so close to the centre and wooded slopes are the backcloth to all the old streets with hidden newer suburbs on the surrounding plateau land.  

The town is not designed around a central open space which is a rarity for in England, but the centre is the junction of simply three narrow curving streets meeting at the Market Hall.  It is obvious to the visitor that Godalming has seen much change over time with the majority of traffic now by-passing the centre by using the busy Ockford Road and Flambard Way, A3100.  The old High Street is pedestrianised and quiet, retaining a charm of its own, but with a hint of character perhaps lost by the artificial 'peace' now imposed from lack of traffic and general 'bustle' (several Surrey towns e.g. Leatherhead has suffered to a worse degree in the same way).

Godalming started as an industrial town in cloth making rather than as a rural centre and the Market Hall (locally known as the "Pepper Pot") is a fine 19th century stucco building with an open arcaded ground floor.   To the west is Ockford Road which, some time previously, has lost several of the houses bordering it to the river below. To the north of Market Hall runs Church Street, very quaint and cottagey with restored buildings.  St Peter and St Paul is a medieval church with 19th century restoration, it dominates Church Street and many distant views with it twisted spire. It is constructed of local Bargate stone, a hard brown sandstone quarried nearby and much loved by the Victorians.   Mill Lane leads down to Godalming Station which together with Mint Street has some very pretty 16th and 17th century small cottages.  Full of remarkable and worthy architecture Godalming also accedes to modern day convenience living having a big new central supermarket and lots of surface parking.  

Due to the steep and narrow valley in which Godalming is sited most of the more recent housing in the area is hidden by the hills.  Some homes are quite magnificent when able to be spotted through the trees especially in the general area to the south of town starting with the undulating countryside around Munstead Heath.

To the north of the town centre towards Charterhouse School, the area is mostly dominated by medium-size mid and late Victorian houses. Charterhouse School commands the plateau above them, the well known public school founded in Finsbury in 1611 which moved here in 1872. 

Commuting to London
Godalming - 47 mins Waterloo (South West Trains)

Godalming outskirts
Tuesley  1 mile south of Godalming
A few picturesque cottages in a steep valley.

Winkworth Arboretum, three miles to the southeast of Godalming, is a  acre hillside planted with rare trees and shrubs with a lake and views over the North Downs.  It was given to the National Trust in 1952.  From here there is a good drive west to the village of Hambledon, from which a footpath leads to Hydon Heath and its highest point, Hydons Ball (586 feet).