Abinger Roughs and Netley Park

Abinger Roughs is a stretch of grassland and mixed woodland above Abinger Hammer, just off the North Downs, where some oaks are over 300 years old. In the late 19th century Thomas Henry Farrer of Abinger Hall planted specimen trees and rhododendrons here as a wilderness garden, and his friend Charles Darwin walked the Roughs in the 1870s. A granite memorial near Leasers Barn marks where Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Winchester and a famous opponent of Darwin's theory of evolution, died after a riding accident in 1873. Near Gomshall, the woods of Netley Park climb the North Downs scarp, with views over the Tillingbourne Valley and six Second World War pillboxes. Reviewers describe easy, well-marked paths and point out the curious witch's broom tree. One tip from visitors: the car park is small. Well-controlled dogs are welcome, on leads where livestock graze. A two-mile nature walk from the car park follows in Darwin's footsteps.