The Greensand Way is a long-distance path 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, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge 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 typically are descri ...

, passing through

woods Woods or The Woods may refer to: Common meanings * Woodland * Forest * Wood, solid material from trees or shrubs Places United States * Woods, Kentucky * Woods, Oregon * Woods, a municipality in Liberty County, Florida * The Woods, a ...

, and alongside fruit

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of la ...

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 ...

s in Kent and links with the Stour Valley Walk 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 an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...

(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 Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

Explorer map 145, a spur – also labelled ''Greensand Way'' – is shown from Thursley to Farnham; this is not part of the path.

Places en route

Places passed along the trail include:

Hindhead Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scientif ...

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 in Surrey, England. It contains a large cluster of cottages and country estates, St Peter's church, the village green, a fountain, pond, a central public house and is surrounded by steep wooded hillsides. History Above the ...

, Shamley Green, Holmbury St Mary, Wotton, Westcott,

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp ...

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 t ...

, Betchworth,

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

, Earlswood,

South Nutfield Nutfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It lies in the Weald immediately south of the Greensand Ridge and has a railway station at South Nutfield which is one stop from Redhill, on the Redhill to Tonbr ...

, Bletchingley, Godstone,

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 ( ha ...

, 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.

, Crockham Hill, Toys Hill, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks Weald, Knole Park, Shipbourne, Dunk's Green, West Peckham,

Nettlestead Green Nettlestead Green, like its near neighbour Nettlestead, lies in the Medway valley southwest of Maidstone in Kent. It has a church and a 17th-century pub. The railway station for Yalding is actually closer to Nettlestead Green than to its own vi ...

, Yalding, 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 Greensa ...

Egerton Egerton may refer to: People * Egerton (name), a list of people with either the surname or the given name * Egerton family, a British aristocratic family * George Egerton, pen name of Mary Dunne Bright (1859–1945), Australian-born writer Place ...

, Little Chart, Hothfield, Kingsnorth and finally Hamstreet.

References

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

External links

Kent Council – Homepage and online guide with maps of Kent and Surrey sections of the walkSurrey Council – Homepage and online guide with maps of Surrey section of the walkSaturday Walkers Club – Description, GPS data, and OS map of walk

Route of the Greensand Way on OpenStreetMap (takes a long time to load e.g. 25 seconds)
{{Transport in Surrey Footpaths in Surrey Footpaths in Kent Long-distance footpaths in England