Reigate Heath and the Mole Valley

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Walk directions

Take the path from the top corner of the car park on the eastern side of Flanchford Road, by a large oak tree, and turn right on a sandy path that soon broadens. Follow it into the trees and then continue across the golf course, heading towards houses, to reach a road. Turn left opposite The Old Schoolhouse, towards the Skimmington Castle pub. Before you reach the pub, turn left onto the public bridleway, which then skirts around the pub and car park.

Head through the trees with paddocks on your right. At the lane, turn right onto the driveway, and go through a gate towards Littleton Manor Farm. After the barn, bear right and continue ahead to pass farmhouses on your left, then continuing onto a fenced path between paddocks. Before the track bends right, cross the stile straight ahead and then turn left on a path beside a fence and young staked trees and bushes. Cross a stile to Flanchford Road.

Cross straight over and keep ahead on the signed public byway opposite. Continue on this broad gravel track to pass a house and barn on your left, a hand-painted sign points ahead to Ricebridge Farm. Continue on the same track, and, at a four-way signpost, turn left, with the woods on your left and a field right. Just past Ricebridge Farm, turn right over a waymarked stile to follow the public footpath along the right-hand field edge. Continue on the waymarked path as it leads between a wartime pill box and the hedge, crossing a stream before heading through an open field, with more pill boxes, to a kissing gate. Pass through and then cross the bridge to emerge on Wonham Lane, opposite Wonham Mill (now converted into housing).

Turn left and keep going straight ahead, uphill to pass houses on your right, then railings on your left. Before the gated entrance to Wonham Manor, turn right through a gate on a signed bridleway and head steeply uphill into woodland. Emerge to continue between a post-and-wire fence, with a field on your left. At a four-way footpath sign, turn right through a kissing gate onto the Greensand Way and follow the field edge through a second kissing gate. Continue to a third kissing gate and emerge onto Dungates Lane by Fourpenny Cottage.

Turn right and continue, passing The Granary cottage on your right and Dungates Farm on your left. Just after you cross a stream, turn right, signed The Greensand Way, and continue to the edge of Reigate Heath Golf Course, beside Ivy Cottage.

Cross the golf course with care (heading towards the windmill), then climb the low, heather-clad hill towards the clubhouse and windmill. Turn left through the car park and then, with Golf Cottage on your left, turn right down a path, and then right again on a sandy track. Just before reaching the road, turn left and follow the path parallel to the road all the way back to the car park.

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Location

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Additional information

Terrain - Rural paths, bridleways and village roads, 3 stiles

Landscape - Lowland landscape in Mole Valley

Dog friendliness - Take care at the village road crossings, and keep on lead across across farmland and golf course

Parking - Car park at Reigate Heath, Flanchard Road

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Surrey Dog-friendly walks in Surrey

About the walk

Reigate Heath is one of the last remaining areas of natural heathland in Surrey, and is both a local nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Most notably, these heather and acid grass heathlands are home to the rare Serotine bat, as well as a colony of southern marsh orchids. They...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Surrey is one of England’s most wooded counties, with over a quarter of the landscape designated as an official AONB and plenty of history evident in the countryside. You’ll find sandy tracks, cottage gardens and welcoming village inns, and on the fringe of Greater London you can picnic in Chaldon’s hay meadows, explore the downs at Epsom, or drift idly beside the River Thames.