Guildford
Children will enjoy exploring the woodland and finding a rural café overlooking fields of horses on this walk.
The entrance to the woodland with bluebells covering the area ahead
Ambling Path Members get 10% off coffee and cakes at Golden Fords
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Ambling Path Members get 10% off coffee and cakes at Golden Fords 🍰 Sign up below 🍰
The Basics
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Distance: 4.4 km / 2.7 miles
Terrain: Partly on well surfaced woodland tracks but also fields that may become muddy in winter and one short, steep descent that may be slippery after rainfall.
Pushchair: This route is not suitable for pushchairs, however there is another car park for Chantry Wood closer to Guildford from where you could walk to Golden Fords along the North Downs Way on a there and back again walk.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome on this walk.
Refreshments: Golden Fords café sells various light refreshments from a farm on the edge of the woods. Open 9-4, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Toilets: There are Portaloo toilets for customers of Golden Fords.
Public Transport: There is no public transport to the side of the wood our walk starts from, but it is possible to walk from Guildford and join the woodland from the west side.
Parking: St. Martha’s Hill car park on Halfpenny Lane, free (Postcode: GU4 8PZ - W3W: ///shady.alien.cheek). Please note, there are two car parks for St. Martha’s Hill. For our route, make sure you park off Halfpenny Lane.
This walk combines woodland with views
The Chantries, or Chantry Wood, is a well known place to enjoy bluebells in Surrey and it isn’t hard to see why; the display in spring breath-taking. Added to this, the elevated position of the wood means there are vistas across the Surrey Hills. To complete your walk, Golden Fords farmyard café on the edge of the woods will provide you with your refreshments.
The Route
Leave the car park through the entrance and walk back to Halfpenny Lane. Ahead of you will be a thin, informal path cutting through the trees. Take this path and after a few metres, you will descend to the road. Turn left and then take the next right into Chantry Wood. Keep left, through the black bollards with the dog waste bins to your right and pass an information board about Chantry Wood. The area ahead of you is where the best bluebells grow in spring, and to protect them, there are logs laid along the edges. The path forks around this area and you should keep left with the low log boundary to your right.
You will shortly come out into an open area that doubles as a camp site for hire in summer. Keep the woods directly to your right and follow the sandy path upwards. Pass the camping toilet block to your right and continue until you reach a barbed wire fence line. Go though the gate, that is usually propped open, and continue straight onwards. Pass a metal water trough in the next open space, and just before the next gate, turn left and take the thin path leading down the hill. At a cross path with a metal kissing gate on your right, continue straight down the hill. This is a short, steep downhill section that may be slippery in winter.
Go through the metal kissing gate when you reach the bottom and immediately veer right at the large oak tree. Follow the path as it cuts across the sandy field. Go through the hedge when you reach the bottom and then turn right. At Manor Farm, veer right into the field and then turn left to walk with the tall hedge to your left and Chantry Wood across the field to your right. When the hedge to your left ends, bear slightly right, keeping on the same path heading towards the houses on the other side.
As you exit the field on the other side, turn right and walk up the tarmac lane. At the glass fronted house, turn right up the sandy track that passes directly in front of it. Walk back in the direction of the woods and ignore the steps on your right. As you approach some more houses, you will reach a cross path.
Turn right and follow the North Downs Way. You will follow this path in more or less a straight line back to Halfpenny Lane with the woods to your right and farmland to your left. Roughly half way along, you will see the signs on your left for Golden Fords where you can stop for coffee, cakes and other light refreshments on the farm. There is plenty of outdoor seating and some indoor seating and views over the fields where ponies graze. After the café, return to the North Downs Way. The path will soon leave the woodland and cut through the middle of some pony paddocks. As it enters the trees again, you will meet a cross path. Continue straight on and re-trace your steps to the car park when you reach the entrance to the woods.
Gain access to the member's only area of our website where you will find the complete A-Z library of all our PDF files. This includes over 220 self-guided walks ready to print or download, as well as various children's activity sheets. You will also find a digital membership card, giving you access to our current discounts.
Did you know?
Conservation work is being carried out to restore the ancient woodland to its native origins. This includes clearing areas of conifers, thinning beech trees and removing weaker and smaller trees to allow more sunlight to reach the ground which will overtime help to increase the bluebell population.
If you liked this walk…
…try this one that goes to St. Martha’s Hill which is just over the road from this walk.
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