Hydon's Ball and Heath

Hydon's Ball was one of the National Trust's earliest acquisitions, bought between 1915 and 1926 as a memorial to Octavia Hill, the social reformer and Trust co-founder who died in 1912. A stone seat dedicated to her stands on the summit, one of the highest points in Surrey, where the steep, wooded south-facing slope looks out towards Black Down and the South Downs. The heath and woodland below mix oaks, sweet chestnuts and tall pines with non-native shrubs planted by the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Rhododendrons flower and nightingales sing in spring, while siskin and brambling visit in winter. The waymarked Octavia Hill walk climbs from the car park to the summit seat and returns past the Robertson Memorial, which remembers two brothers lost in the First World War, and reviewers point to a wider web of footpaths and bridleways through the woods. There are no toilets, and the paths can turn muddy after rain. Well-controlled dogs are welcome, on leads in public areas.