The Greensand Way is a

long-distance path A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, equestrianism or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exce ...

of in southeast England, from

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

in Surrey to

Hamstreet Hamstreet is a village in Kent, in South East England. The village is located 6 miles (10 km) south of Ashford on the A2070, the main road between Ashford and Hastings. The majority of the village is in the parish of Orlestone, named ...

in Kent. It follows the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand, is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it ...

along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

, passing through woods, and alongside fruit

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and hop

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

s in Kent and links with the

Stour Valley Walk The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the ''Low Weald'' and ''Kent Downs,'' from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay. The walk passes through some of Kent's finest landscap ...

near

Pluckley Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The civil parish includes the adjacent hamlet of Pluckley Thorne. Geography The landscape of the area itself is the edge of a well-drained plain, with the lowest ...

in Kent. The trail was opened on 15 June 1980 and is jointly managed by Surrey and Kent Councils who fully updated it in 2012 (route, waymarking, online guide). Much of the land is designated an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

(AONB). The stretch from Hindhead to Leith Hill has formed part of the Surrey Hills AONB since 1958. The Sevenoaks Ridge, from the Surrey–Kent border to Borough Green, is included in the Kent Downs AONB. The waymarks alone are not sufficient to follow the trail – an OS map, or the online guide with maps, is required. An updated guide with maps and walk directions is available online from the Kent and Surrey Council websites. The original guidebook is out of print. On

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

Explorer map 145, a spur – also labelled ''Greensand Way'' – is shown from Thursley to

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

; this is not part of the path.

Places en route

Places on the trail include:

Hindhead Hindhead is a village in the Waverley, Surrey, Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England. It is the highest village in the county and its buildings are between and above sea level. The village forms part of the Haslemere parish. Situ ...

Thursley Thursley is a village and civil parish in southwest Surrey, west of the A3 between Milford and Hindhead. An associated hamlet is Bowlhead Green. To the east is Brook. In the south of the parish rises the Greensand Ridge, in this section re ...

, Wormley, Hambledon,

Hascombe Hascombe is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England. It is around southeast of Godalming in the Borough of Waverley. The settlement contains a large cluster of cottages and country estates, St Peter's Church, the village green, a fountai ...

Shamley Green Wonersh is a village and civil parish in the Waverley district of Surrey, England and Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It contains three Conservation Areas and spans an area three to six miles SSE of Guildford. In the outer L ...

Holmbury St Mary Holmbury St Mary is a village in Surrey, England centered on shallow upper slopes of the Greensand Ridge. Its developed area is a nucleated village, southwest of Dorking and southeast of Guildford. Most of the village is in the borough of Gui ...

, Wotton, Westcott,

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

Brockham Brockham is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is approximately east of Dorking and west of Reigate. The village lies south of Box Hill, with the River Mole flowing west through the village. At th ...

Betchworth Betchworth is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. The village centre is on the north bank of the River Mole and south of the A25 road, almost east of Dorking and west of Reigate. London is north of the ...

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

Earlswood Earlswood is a suburb of Redhill, Surrey, Redhill in Surrey, England, which lies on the A23 road, A23 between Redhill (in the direction of London) and Horley (next to Gatwick Airport). Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve that separates ...

, South Nutfield,

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gre ...

Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is east of Reigate, west of Oxted, east of Guildford and south of London. Close to the North Downs, both the North Downs Way ...

Tandridge Tandridge is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District, in the county of Surrey, England. Its nucleus is on a rise of the Greensand Ridge between Oxted and Godstone. It includes, towards its middle one named sub-locality (hamlet), ...

, Broadham Green,

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25 road, A25.Crockham Hill Crockham Hill is a village in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. It is about south of Westerham, and Chartwell is nearby. The village has a population of around 270 people. It contains a 19th-century pub, the Royal Oak, and Holy Trinity ...

Toys Hill Toys Hill or Toy's Hill is a hamlet in Brasted civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. It lies to the south of Brasted Chart, also in the parish. The hamlet is on the steep scarp slope of the Greensand Ridge, a prominent esc ...

Ide Hill Ide Hill is a village within the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Sundridge with Ide Hill, in the Sevenoaks (district), Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It stands on one of the highest points of the Greensand Ridge about three mi ...

Sevenoaks Weald __NOTOC__ Sevenoaks Weald is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks (district), Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, Low Weald, immediately south of Sevenoaks town, with the village of Sevenoaks Weald a ...

Knole Park Knole Park is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Sevenoaks in Kent. About 43 acres of the park belongs to the National Trust, as does Knole House, which sits within it. The remaining parkland is privately owned by the Knole Esta ...

Shipbourne Shipbourne ( ) is a village and civil parish situated between the towns of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in the English county of Kent. In 2020 it was named as the most expensive village in Kent. It is locate ...

, Dunk's Green,

West Peckham West Peckham is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The River Bourne, Kent, River Bourne flows through the extreme west of the parish, and formerly powered a paper mill (River Bourne, Kent#Hamptons ...

, Nettlestead Green,

Yalding Yalding is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The village is situated south west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway. At the 2001 census, the parish, which inclu ...

, Linton,

Sutton Valence Sutton Valence (in the past also called Sudtone, Town Sutton and Sutton Hastings, see below) is a village about five miles (8 km) SE of Maidstone, Kent, England on the A274 road going south to Headcorn and Tenterden. It is on the Greensand ...

, Egerton,

, Little Chart, Hothfield,

Kingsnorth Kingsnorth is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The civil parish adjoins the town of Ashford. Features The Greensand Way, a long distance footpath stretching from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Ken ...

and finally

History

A proposal for a long-distance footpath called the Greensand Way was put forward in the

Greater London Plan The Greater London Plan of 1944 was developed by Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957). The plan was directly related to the County of London Plan written by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Abercrombie in 1943. Following World War II, London ...

, compiled by

Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ( ; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English architect, urban designer and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior ...

and published in 1944. One of the appendices to the plan, Map 14, shows the route running between the Reigate and Sevenoaks areas. The first part of the path to be completed, a section in the

Leith Hill Leith Hill in southern England is the highest summit of the Greensand Ridge, approximately southwest of Dorking, Surrey and southwest of central London. It reaches above sea level, and is the second highest point in southeast England, aft ...

area was opened in June 1980. The remainder of the route in Surrey was inaugurated in May 1982, bringing the total length of the path to . Kent County Council completed its planning work on the eastern part of the Greensand Way in 1983, and the section west if the River Medway opened in April 1986. The final part of the path, east of Yalding railway station, opened on 15 April 1989. In 1998, the county councils published a guidebook entitled ''Along and Around the Greensand Way''.

References

* The Greensand Way in Kent, 1992, Kent County Council, (Out of print) * Colton, Adam ''Mud, Sweat and Beers''

External links

Route overview

Detailed guide to the Surrey section
{{Transport in Surrey Footpaths in Surrey Footpaths in Kent Long-distance footpaths in England