Box Hill may not be Surrey’s highest point but Moleside’s April Walk was a dramatic reminder that it offers us a selection of views that is hard to beat locally.
We did opt for the most realistic route to the top and kicked off our walk in the NT Car Park close by the elegant viewpoint looking south over Dorking. It’s now been here over a hundred years, dedicated in 1920 by his wife to the banker Leopold Salomons.
David, our leader for the walk, reminded us that in 1914 Salomons had made it possible for the National Trust to take responsibility for the protection and management of over 200 acres of this beautiful hill top location.
Leaving the Memorial we were faced with the most modest of uphill slopes. The careful planning by our leader had insured that any real exertion was brief and experienced very early in our morning’s progress.
Quickly reassured that the rest of our route was to be reasonably level, our pause for breath was brief before heading northwards into the Box Hill woodlands at their April very best.
But it was out in the grassy open spaces that have been strategically allowed to develop here that we appreciated we are right at the centre of things up in this Country Park.
From Flint Hill we looked to the north across the Mole Valley towards Norbury Park.
From Juniper Top we could look more westerly towards Mickelham and the vineyard at Denbies.
And on retracing our steps – as Alec’s monitoring of our route reveals – we made our way to the vantage point on Lodge Hill where Thomas Broadwood placed his folly.
Broadwood, a member of the famous piano making family and one time resident of Juniper Hall in the valley below, built this flint encrusted tower shortly after the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
Perhaps a project being considered to reinstate his folly’s missing internal staircase will give visitors, in years to come, a spot even higher than the one from which we enjoyed the view here on a rare sunny day in April 2024.
Thanks to David for his detailed research and planning, to Steve who corodinates our monthly programme of walks and to Alec for his precise record of our route.
Moleside walks are held on the third Thursday of the month. Our next walk is on 16 May.
Details of some of our previous walks can be found by following the TAGs below.