Ockley to Warnham walk

Ockley to Warnham

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Distance: 11.4 miles.
Time without long breaks: Apx 5 1/2 hours (add time for pub breaks).

Terrain: Easy-going throughout.
How to get there and back: Train to Ockley, return from Warnham. Buy a return ticket to Warnham (but see below).
Pubs: There are two great country pubs – the Punch Bowl at Okewood Hill and the wonderful Scarlett Arms at Walliswood. At the end of the walk, the Sussex Oak is handily-placed a mile from Warnham station.
More information: On the way back, it will probably be quicker to catch a train from Warnham to Horsham and then get a fast one back to London.

This is a lovely wander through quiet unspoilt countryside on the Surrey/West Sussex border, taking in woods, rivers and sleepy villages. It includes two country pubs, both of which are ideal for lunch. There is another pub at the end if you want a drink and a meal before the journey home. The route runs between two village stations on the Waterloo to Horsham line.

Walk down the station approach and turn right under the railway bridge. Immediately after, take the footpath on the left between fences, following the sign. The path goes over a stream and then reaches a lane. Turn right onto the lane and, shortly after, turn left to cross a driveway and continue along the footpath. The path passes the back of a large house and then runs along the bottom of a field, with trees on the left before crossing a stream. Carry on through the trees and then enter a field via a gate, with a farm on your left. Head across the field to the edge of the wood, then turn left along the line of trees, crossing a stile in the corner of the field. You then cross a further stile ahead to enter the trees.

The path comes out at a lane on the edge of Ockley village. Cross straight over the lane at the signpost and continue along the path. Go over a stile into a field, keeping to the left, then cross another stile by a gate. You will see the village and a windmill in the distance to your right. Carry on and enter the wood via a gate. Keep on the track straight ahead. It will shortly begin to descend and you will come to a T-junction where there is a fallen tree carved with the names 'Anthony Annette Adam'. Bear right, then take the left-hand fork, then – by a small post – take the left path which heads downhill. Cross the bridge over the stream by the footpath sign and follow the path around to the right.

Go over a stile and then walk along the hedge on your right, with a farm ahead. When you reach the farm buildings, turn right and follow Waley's Lane between the farm and the farmhouse. Keep on this winding lane, crossing a bridge with railings over a stream. You will soon reach another farm on your left. Pass through the farm buildings, then through a gate (don't head down the main farm driveway). You will emerge at a gap in the hedge by a cottage on the A29. At this point the road forms a section of Stane Street, a Roman road which once ran from London to Chichester.

After about 300m, take the path on the right, heading uphill, which emerges into a field. Follow the fence and then cross over a stile into the wood. After about 50m along the track you will come to a footpath post. Take the left-hand fork. A short distance on from this there is another junction of paths and another footpath post. Again, take the left-hand fork along a path that goes downhill, through the woods and by the edge of a field. After about 500m, it emerges down a bank through some trees and onto a road. Take a right here, initially taking care to keep to the verge, and you will soon reach the village of Okewood Hill and the Punch Bowl pub.

This tranquil church, which is dedicated to St John the Baptist, was originally built in the 13th century and has some remnants of wall paintings from that period. On leaving the church, take the path of stepping stones opposite the entrance, go through the gate and down some steps and over a wooden bridge. Bear left at the T-junction, then go over another bridge, ignoring the one on the right. Carry on along the path, turning right by an entrance to a field. After about 1/2 mile you will come to a kissing gate and a road. Turn right to reach the village of Walliswood.

Cross over the road and head down the driveway opposite, passing a house. When you reach Middle Lodge, go through the gate and follow the fence. Proceed along the path until you reach Oakwood Mill Farm. Turn right and cross over a bridge. Ignore the 'Keep Out' sign, then take the left hand fork into a field (there may be a sign here saying beware of cattle). The track follows the direction of the river, but after about 75m you need to follow it right and go up the hill (we got lost here and continued following the river before having to double back). Go through the gate at the top of the hill. Follow the path around to the left, with a fence to the right.

The Punch Bowl is a lovely village pub and a good place to stop, although there is an even better one a little further on (see below). Carry on along the road in the same direction after departing the pub, ignoring the left turning. You will soon pass a grand Tudor house at Upper Sent. Just beyond this, there is a lay-by and a footpath sign on your right. Take the track, which soon turns sharp left and then turns right to run up the edge of a field. Look out for the deer here. Half way up the field, the path turns into the trees and emerges at the village church in the middle of the woods.

On your right you will come to the Scarlett Arms, a beautiful pub with a beer garden to the front. You are now almost precisely half-way through the walk, so time for a well-deserved break. On leaving the pub, head back down the street. After about 300m take the road turning on the left (after the turning to the residential estate), by the road sign for Oakwoodhill, Ockley and Dorking. After 500m you will reach a house on the right-hand side. Turn into the driveway and follow the wooden bridleway sign, taking a path that goes through a gate to Rose Hill Farm.

After exiting the farm, the path runs along the left-hand edge of a field. Go through the hedge to enter the next one. On leaving this field, the path becomes quite narrow and overgrown. It comes out at an open field on the edge of a wood. Turn left and after 100m cross over a stile. Follow the path round to the right, cross over a footbridge and go over another stile into a large field. Passing a copse on your left, you will reach a further stile on the other side of the field in a gap in the trees. Head across this field in a 10 o'clock direction towards a gate and a stile to a road.

Just past a pond and a horse enclosure, and immediately before the track bends left, turn right to continue on the bridleway. After 100m, the track turns left along a line of trees at the bottom of a field. Cross a bridge over the river, and then turn right following the riverbank. Shortly after, cross another bridge over a stream and head up the path. Passing a house, Chatfolds, on the right, keep on until the track emerges at the A29 road. Take care crossing the road and take the path immediately opposite. The bridleway passes two farms on your left and right before becoming a driveway emerging at Northlands Road.

The path emerges on a residential street on the edge of Warnham. Take the road opposite (Lucas Road) until you reach a primary school. Alongside the school entrance is a footpath. This soon runs alongside Caryll Place and comes out opposite St Margaret's church, where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was baptised (see below). Turn left here for the Sussex Oak pub, which has a great beer garden out back. To reach the station, cross over into Bell Road. When you reach Dorking Road, take a left and then a right into Station Road, which leads to Warnham station. The distance from the pub and the station is 1.4km (about 20 mins walk).

Turn left down the road. You will shortly come to a house on the right. Turn right here, down Monk's Lane, following the public bridleway sign. When you reach the buildings on the right, ignore the turning off (Honey Lane) by the wooden sign and carry on along the lane, which leads to Monks Farm. Pass the farm buildings on your right. There is a junction with another lane on the left, but follow the track around to the right. Then follow the bridleway as it heads due east via a gate and then, after about 200m, turns sharp right to follow the edge of a field. Keep on along the bridleway through the fields, passing a copse on your left. After about 1/2 mile you will reach Dawes Farm, now an equine veterinary practice.

Turn right along the road, passing the Victorian clock tower at Warnham Lodge (a water tower built for the local estate – open to the public one day a year). After 500m, as the road bends left, take the mud track straight ahead as indicated by the sign. Follow the track through the edge of the woods. After just under 1/2 mile, you will reach a four-arm wooden sign. Turn left and follow the footpath along the top edge of a field. When you reach the other side, there is a three-armed sign. Bear left here, following the edge of the next field. About 2/3 of the way along, cut across the corner as indicated by a two-armed sign, aiming for a gap in the hedge. Cut across the next field and enter the trees.

The romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place, near Warnham, in 1792. The parish church has a Shelley chapel, but you won't find Percy's name on the family memorial. He was estranged from his father, who despaired of the scandals caused by his son's unconventional lifestyle (Shelley was an atheist, a pacifist, a vegetarian and an advocate of free love). But the early years of the poet's life were by all accounts idyllic. He would explore the local countryside with his sisters and tell them stories about the old snake that lived in the garden and the great tortoise that haunted Warnham mill pond. He also entertained them by dressing up in disguises and conducting bizarre scientific experiments. Up to the age of 10, Shelley attended a day school in Warnham and was taught by the local curate, but his life changed dramatically when he was sent to Syon School and then Eton. He found himself cruelly bullied at both institutions, only finding solace during his holidays at Field Place. Known for his fiery temper, his peers nicknamed him 'Mad Shelley'.

While at Oxford, Shelley was influenced by the radical thinker Thomas Hogg and was expelled from the university for writing a treatise on atheism. He eloped with Harriett Westbrook and three years later eloped again, this time with Mary Godwin (who went on to write Frankenstein). In 1818, the couple moved to Italy, together with Mary's step-sister Claire (who was also in a relationship with the poet). Shelley died in a boating accident there at the age of 29. It is fair to say he was not universally mourned – London newspaper The Courier wrote: 'Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned; now he knows whether there is God or no'. Shelley's ashes were interred in Rome, although his heart – which did not burn – was buried somewhere in Dorset. While he was residing in Italy he wrote a number of poems which seemed to recall his young life in Sussex. Perhaps he had hoped he could return one day to his childhood idyll. KB

Full-day country walks in SE England and beyond

Ockley to Warnham

Click on the image below to access the full map on plotaroute

Full-day country walks in
SE England and beyond

Click on the image below to access
the full map on plotaroute