 Guildford SøEdited Team: SøEditorial: Alexander James SøCreative Director: Chris Saint Sims SøFashion Director: Savannah Barthorpe There’s no need to cross the channel to find local wines, castles, al fresco patisseries, or rivers winding through the glades. It’s available in just 45-minutes from London in a little-known area of Surrey Hills. Surrey Hills, the original one (not the one in Sydney) is designated an area of outstanding natural beauty. You'll see why it has this title as you arrive in Guildford as your gateway point. This town makes a great spontaneous last-minute adventure for exploring many of the country's most picturesque villages, rolling hills, stately homes and more importantly a centre of the new England wine growing region.
Guildford town is less visited than places like Oxford or Cambridge, but is a post card snapshot of quintessential England with one of the best -preserved castles and medieval towers in Europe, overlooking the cobbled high street dotted with crooked Tudor buildings. It’s designated 'Purple Flag' is an award given to places with remarkable after dark activity, and are also considered safe environments in which to party. We recommend you save that until later and stop off at The Ivy Asia on arrival for a bite. This one's a gem for dining in the garden under the boughs of a cherry tree, or inside an illuminated floor crafted from green, semi-precious stone. It does a splendid Asian take on brunch with sesame and chicken waffles, tiger prawn and sambal omelettes, plus most classic varieties of dim sum and gyoza. Our favourite room is the Sumosan Room, named after the famous Sumo restaurants, and with a giant statue of one overlooking the grand dining table: theivyasia.com/restaurants/the-ivy-asia-guildford/ Once satiated Guildford has many free walks, bookable at Guildford Walks by Guildford Town Guides which reveals the heritage of this city from King John, Lewis Carrol, and more recently code breaker, and arguably the 'father of modern computers', Alan Turing who lived in the town. This was a man also persecuted and punished for his sexuality, despite breaking a secret code believed to be 'unbreakable' code, that was a catalyst in ending Nazi aggressions in World War 2.  The Ivy Asia You'll also be in the vicinity of one of the few of England's cricket theme bars at Sixes Cricket, a place where you can watch cricket until late, while sipping cocktails, munching on tapas and have a knock about yourself in one the four cricket nets. Go early doors and you'll get a third off the batting nets, and it's a favourite with cricketing nationals who also play with the major league teams of Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex: sixescricket.com For travelling around the region makes use of the very handy Rail to Ramble transport system, where you can hop between towns in the Surrey Hill and other key stop-offs such as country trails, viewpoints, pubs and art carved in to the hills and meadows, such as a place called Coccolith. You can download the North Downs/Surrey Hill art trail here: Help us find the missing piece - National Trails.The transport system makes use of a combination of train, coach and pathways, with costs from £2 for up to a five mile trip, the full lowdown is here: Rail to Ramble routes - Surrey Hills National Landscape, and you need to register for an account here.  Guildford Charming Nights We recommend twinning Guildford with Farnham a hidden gem in the Surrey Hills landscape, with all the trappings of a quaint Surrey town, but without the tourists, and one campus of The University of the Arts. It's also home to one of the most historic and longest surviving hotels in the UK, now called The Bush right in the middle of the high street. Before that it has been home to one of the UK's oldest bars dating back 1,000-years-ago to the time of the Norman invasion. The Oak Lounge is a snug place to drop by for an autumnal or winter drink, while in summer the bar is open al fresco, and it gives an insight to the origin of the phrase of 'pub lock-in'. The bar was once a one room building with much lower ceilings and doorframes. This is not, as commonly thought, due to people being short, but to retain heat within the room in the days without any form of central heating. Patrons would have come to the pub and remain all night sleeping (or more likely passing out) on a thick layer of straw, that the landlord would spread across the floor for them. This apparently, was a tradition, and certainly beats waiting outside for an UBER. Roll forward to now, the bar pays homage to many classic British signatures, with an array of more than 20 of the UK's finest gins, local ales and a contender for one of the best club sandwiches in the country. At the main hotel The Bush, you are more than likely to rub shoulders with clientele of the jet set, a private jet airport is based nearby. You'll also find a treasure trove of antiques, for example one of few examples of an indoor sundial. It was discovered in 1887, when workmen were repairing the ceiling. The design consists of a semi-circular scroll, originally yellow with the words ‘diem antem horam et illam’ (‘of that day and hour’) painted on it. Lines run from it across the ceiling and at intervals figures are painted. Indoor sundials are rare.  The Bush Hotel Restaurant This version was likely positioned above the window to catch the rays of the sun reflecting off a pond in the garden. Explore further in to The Garden Restaurant and there is a fine example of frescoes of naked cherubs. For those who need to brush-up on their art, frescoes are paintings done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries (no AI involved). The artist who creates it has to be skilled enough to create the desired effect rapidly, as once done, like tattoos, it's hard to remove. One fun fact about these frescoes, they were only discovered in 1931, with nobody knowing the date of origin. This was because they had been painted over in the Victorian era, as the naked form of these cherubs were considered way too rude. Some other facts: The Bush features in Thackerey's novel The Virginians and was a favourite dining haunt of Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s, ring leader of the British revolution and Civil War. No surprise, the managers here can't recall what his favourite dish was, but the menu is packed with fine fair from local producers. If you're there on a Sunday, few roasts match the offering. You'll find roast beef, pork with a stellar crackling, and a vegan beef wellington. Should you be tempted to stay, rooms are reasonable for such deluxe accommodation, thanks to it being one of the few independently owned hotels in the area, and not driven solely by shareholder profit. There's many different styles of rooms in the ivy-clad coach house style residence: rooms with vintage furnishings and classic baths, or more modern, while others overlook the serene garden: farnhambush.com  The Bush Hotel The newly opened Petite Patisserie is a firm favourite with locals, and a great choice for a light breakfast, and located right next to The Bush Hotel. Surrey is known for its French influences, being so close to the borders, and once a key stronghold of the Normans. You're unlikely to find a better classic French croissant than at this place, but this bijous bakery also delights with immaculately crafted macaroons, choux buns, Early Gray scones, grand cakes infused with European and Asian influences, and towers made from gourmet chocolate. There's a tea selection good enough to outdo The Ritz, even serving sparkling teas. It also runs masterclasses in chocolate-making. It's worthy of a mention as it is evidently a place fuelled by pure love of craft. Co-founder, Leyre Pedrazuela, was been dreaming of being a professional pastry chef since she was a young child, and designed teas at The Shard London. The establishment has also just hired a chef to create savoury snacks, Steve Johnson to perfect its savoury offerings such as mayo and truffle finger sandwiches or Boston crab brioche: petitepatisserie.co.uk
Venturing on for the rest of the day you have three options to max out your time. 'You can do Surrey Hills light', by doing the Farnham Heritage Trail, that will take you winding through cottages, pubs and malthouses and the stunning castle, the pdf link is here to download: Heritage-Trail-leaflet-final-2015.pdf (farnham.gov.uk). You can round off your time at Folly's Park, an impressive medieval deer park, a hunting ground for Kings and Queens for 500-years. Now it's brimming with imposing oaks, rolling hills, nature reserves and a wild west adventure playground that'll bring out the Kidult in you. Second option is: The Artist Village, just ten-miles from Farnham is one of the UK’s few artists villages known as Watt’s Art Village, named after Mary Watts a girl-power game changer, who existed way before The Spice Girls. More than 120-years ago she established this mecca to creativity to show how ‘art can change lives’, and make it accessible to all. It’s located on the ancient North Downs Way, an age-old walking route. The village is an ideal place to indulge an afternoon: There’s a working pottery, manicured gardens, craft village, and a gallery supporting local and world artists: www.wattsgallery.org.uk Here you can take a walking route and return to Guilford found here, passing rivers, pubs and countryside. It takes about 3-hours on an easy pace: Walking Guide You can find more walking tours here that splinter out across the North Downs, including the 10-mile trek from Farnham-Guildford. Time it right and you’ll make it time for happy hour: The North Downs Way. Talking of happy hour, round-off your trip at a bar with the best vistas over Guildford at The Thai Terrace. It has its own sunset veranda to view: the sky transforming into a captivating masterpiece. It’s known for its breathtaking views and al fresco ambience and a cocktail list long enough to fuel a 24-hour Full Moon Party, with some delights known as Bangkok Magic, Phuket Island and Pirates of the Caribbean: Thai Terrace | Contemporary Thai Dining  Thai Terrace Third option is to take the chance to explore one of the UK’s budding vineyard regions, now grouped on one trail. It might not be as an extensive network as Italy’s Chianti or Spain’s Rioja, but you can definitely do it in a weekend: ttps://www.surreyhillsvineyards.co.uk. The route comprises 6 wineries, from a boutique one acre family-run affair, to a 265-acre world contender. Nearest to Farnham you have Greyfriars, then the estates of Chilworth Manor, Albury Organic, High Clandon, Denbies and then Solom’s Court which opens for public tours in 2025. The best known is Denbies Wine Estate, in Dorking. It’s one of England’s largest single estate vineyards. With 265 acres currently under vine, it has a production capacity of 1 million bottles. The first vines were planted on the estate in 1986. For the last 20 years, Christopher White, CEO, has owned and operated the estate, it’s now one of England’s wine success stories. It’s more than just a winery, however, it’s won numerous awards for sustainable tourism and for its production, using solar panels to fuel its output. This is largely due to housing one of the UK’s first vineyard’s accommodation. DenbiesVineyard Hotel is located in the heart of Denbies Wine Estate with outstanding views across the 265-acre estate and rolling hills. Offering 17 ensuite rooms with a new Vineyard Restaurant and bar area, the hotel has subtle references to its prime location in the Surrey Hills wine country. There’s luxury suites and doubles with king-sized beds as standard. Denbies comprises not one but four restaurants, serving its portfolio. There’s The Gallery Restaurant with the best views in Surrey, reaching over Box Hill and the North Downs. In addition, The Orangery Restaurant has far-reaching views over the vineyard, with cabana-style seating areas. You can find year-around al fresco dining at the Conservatory Restaurant, and take-away at the Hatch Restaurant: www.denbies.co.uk Travel: You can make use of the Rail and Walk featured above, to travel to Guildford for as little as £5, check out: www.flixbus.co.uk. Lots more travel info here: www.visitsurrey.com. One King Sized bedroom at The Bush Hotel will set you back around £150 at: laterooms.com For excellent country trail maps check out: www.outdooractive.com.
1 Comment
Tanya Aspinwall
7/1/2025 10:35:39 am
Great article, didn't realise there was so much to do in the Surrey Hills! The Bush sounds like a fabulous hotel and one I definitely want to visit. Leave a Reply. |
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