When we heard someone on TV recently say that Surrey was the most treed county in England, we must confess that our first thought was ‘is treed a word?’
Well, indeed it is, and indeed we are.
Depending upon which statistics you use, up to a staggering 31% of our county is covered in trees, equating to a remarkable 9.88 trees per resident. A couple of other counties lay claim to the record, but when it comes to all matters horticultural and arboreal, who better to turn to than Alan Titchmarsh, and this recent article in Country Life Magazine.
So, we really are ‘leafy Surrey’ with Guildford at its heart. Any direction you choose to leave the town centre, you will quickly find yourself you will very quickly find yourself surrounded by green.
Whether it’s the Surrey Hills and the breath-taking views from Newlands Corner, or the eerie surroundings of the Silent Pool (Surrey’s most haunted place, and home to the Gin Distillery that takes its name). A little further afield you have Box Hill, overlooking beautiful Dorking and Denbies Wine Estate.
Or head to Hanscombe, near Godalming for one of the most stunning landscapes in Europe at Winkworth Arboretum. This National Trust property covers 135 acres and is home to more than 1,000 species of trees and shrubs. It also has great family facilities and a wonderful café.
The road to Farnham takes you over the Hogs Back, with glorious views and a world famous brewery…has anybody else noticed that these areas of outstanding natural beauty do seem to feature quite a lot of booze?
Then of course we have RHS Wisley just along he A3 towards London.
There’s little that we can say about Wisley other than to confirm its beauty, its importance and that it’s practically a crime to visit Guildford without visiting the place.
‘Wisley is one of the world’s great gardens.’
A little closer to home, in fact just a 2-minute walk from our front doors, we have Stoke Park with 52 hectares of unspoiled gardens, wooded areas, lawns and grassland. Of course there’s a great little café, bowls, crazy golf, playgrounds, paddling pool and boating lake.
And, for those wishing to get even closer to trees, there’s also the Wild Wood Adventure.
We will finish with a line from the Joyce Kilmer work, ‘Trees’, it sums things up beautifully…
’I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree’.