Nutfield Circular via Outwood

Yesterday saw 9 ramblers joining Michael and Olga Way for an 8 1/2 mile walk in wonderful Surrey countryside.



[Michael is above, second left].

Although the day was somewhat overcast at first, the weather cleared and the rain held off.



[Surrey countryside at its best...]

We walked through a fine mixture of farmland and woodland. It was a day for tradition. We passed sheep dog trials...





And there was a cricket game taking place on the pitch at Outwood...



The focus of the walk was the windmill at Outwood, the oldest working post mill in the country. You can find out more by going to the link here



[Olga is pictured centre, in the pink top.]

The lunch stop included a quick drink in the 17th century Bell Inn, where the group were treated to a sighting of theatrical royalty in the form of Dame Judi Dench, a local resident.

There were plenty of wild flowers to be seen...



This is Lesser Stitchwort.

Even the local animals were friendly...



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Wednesday in Happy Valley

Jane Rosoux writes...

"I attach a selection of photographs taken on Wednesday's ramble from Coulsdon South to Whyteleafe.

The walk was led by Pat Hully, pictured below, right, behind the bench.



There were eight in the party and the 11 mile walk finished quite early at around 3.30 pm after 4 hours of walking. A lot of the walk took place in the Farthing Down and Happy Valley SSSI, which contained large expanses of meadow grasses,


cowslips,


buttercups and bluebells.


Although the sky was somewhat overcast at the start most of the walk was blessed by bright sunshine.

We had a look at the famous wall painting in Chaldon Church. [The painting dates back to just after the Norman conquest. Read more about it here]




and a little later had a picnic lunch in a field off the Pilgrim's Way with a view of the hills to the south.

Near Coulsdon Common we passed one of the remaining City of London coal posts [Read more about these here]


Finally, on the common itself was a small flock of Jacob sheep.


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