Surrey Hills ~ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
"Here are hill and dell in endless variety.  Here are chalk and sand vying with each other in making beautiful scenes.  Here are woods and downs.  Here is something of everything..."  
William Cobbett 1762-1835

Location for a home ~ Comment: Highly regarded rural living, unique in its atmosphere - a  peaceful, picturesque retreat without isolation

he Surrey Hills was one of the first landscapes to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1958.  It is the most wooded designated area in the country, but it is an intriguingly diverse landscape.  Characterised by hills and valleys, traditional grassland farming, a patchwork of chalk grassland and heathland, sunken lanes, picturesque villages, market towns, grand villas in the Arts and Crafts style and associations with many of the country's great artists, writers and designers.  The hills are regarded as the first real countryside south of London and they are a rural retreat for many thousands of daily commuters.  The area stretches across the chalk North Downs which run from Farnham in the west, above Guildford, Dorking and Reigate, to Oxted in the east.  It contains a mosaic of woodland, scrub and open downland with combes, spring lines, chalk pits, quarries and striking cliffs.  To the south are the Greensand Hills which include Black Down, the Devils Punch Bowl and Leith Hill with ancient sunken lanes and fields which have been carved out of the surrounding woodland and remaining heaths.  In between are the valleys of the Wey, Tillingbourne and Mole rivers and the heaths of Frensham, Thursley and Blackheath.  The low Weald forms the southern fringe of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with its extensive woodlands and small irregular hedges and wooded shaws.

lthough geology, soils and climate have created the skeleton for the landscape, the appearance of the Surrey Hills has been shaped for centuries by the changing patterns of land use and settlement. Over much of the Surrey Hills the historic settlement pattern remains largely intact, small picturesque villages of Saxon and medieval origin in the valleys, isolated farmsteads on clearings won from the woodland,  country houses with extensive parklands, market towns and remnants of C17 and C18 industry. 

uch of the area is owned by conservation bodies including local authorities and the National Trust.  Large parcels of land are under access agreements with estates allowing open space for quiet enjoyment.  There is a dense and well-used rights of way network and recreational footpaths including the Greensand Way and the North Downs Way.  The value that people attach to the Surrey Hills goes beyond merely the appearance of the landscape, it seems to evoke aesthetic pleasure and emotions so that it boasts a rich heritage of artists and writers inspired by the surroundings including Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Evelyn, Jane Austen, Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Jekyll, John Keats, Alfred Tennyson and E M Forster to name but a few. This cultural heritage proves the importance of retaining and treasuring the Surrey Hills as best we possibly can.
Photos:
Leith Hill Tower stands at 1000 feet above sea level, the highest point of South East England
The lane at Friday Street

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