Worplesdon ~ Guildford Borough northwest central         6 miles north of central Guildford on the A322

Location for a home ~ Comment:  Recommended with olde world village character, train station on the fringes

Present Day Aspect and Character

orplesdon is a heathland village with a shaggy green on a hill at the centre. The village is bisected by the busy main road between Woking and Guildford.  However Worplesdon does retain a village character spared from over development at the turn of the century probably because Worplesdon Railway Station is some distance away.  The green is large enough to give the ancient houses on its south side some protection from the noise and disturbance of the road and the village is still genuinely rural although the outskirts of Guildford are very close indeed.  It is a village of mostly mellow brick houses on undulating terrain backing onto Whitmoor Common.  Some properties will benefit from views south towards the Hogs Back.   The situation of the central St Mary's church is particularly pleasing.

To the north of Worplesdon there is a group of no less than three golf courses Worplesdon, West Hill and Woking. 

Accommodation
Worplesdon Place Hotel, Perry Hill, 21 letting rooms makes this an ideal base for exploring the many nearby attractions.  This old country house became a hotel in the early 1900s set in a huge garden with a small lake with wildfowl.  Tel: 01483 232407.

History
The railway came to Worplesdon some 160 years ago, but the station which is an important commuter link on the Waterloo line is some way from the village centre.  In the age before the railway, Worplesdon also had a station on the semaphore line for the Admiralty to Plymouth.  That link, which was never completed, branched off the London to Portsmouth signalling line at Chatley Heath and messages were received and passed on at a tower next to the parish church.  This early 19th century form of an 'information superhighway' lasted for six years until the line was abandoned in 1831 and the Worplesdon Glebe station was demolished 20 years later.

Historic Buildings

St Mary’s church above the village shows itself off well in its position with 13 th centurychapel and restored in 1866.  Views to the south go down to Hogs Back. There are a lot of genuine restored old houses mostly in Worplesdon and in neighbouring Jacobs Well.  On the south side of the green a lane leads to Merrist Wood, a house by Norman Shaw built in 1877 on an exquisite site looking south to the Hogs Back. It is now an Agricultural College and one of Norman Shaw’s best houses. The public have limited access to the grounds and during the year there are a number of agricultural demonstrations. Of the number of old houses in the village and around it, the best are two 17th century timber fronted farmhouses, Pitch Place (formerly Cobbett's and dated 1683) and Norton Farm northwest of the village which is part half-timbered and part Burgate stone. Built in 1877 it stands on a ridge with a view over its own well tended farm land and again towards the Hogs Back.