Having just returned from a lovely short break walking in the Surrey Hills, I thought it was the perfect topic to blog about. I love escaping to the countryside for inspiration and to clear my mind for creativity.
We walked the National Trust's 'Happy Valley Walk'. This 3 mile trail offers amazing views of the Surrey countryside from Box Hill and includes beautiful woodland and Broadwood Tower on the way.
Broadwood's Tower was built in 1815 by Thomas Broadwood of Juniper Hall, to commemorate the battle of Waterloo.
We continued on to Salomons Memorial where the view was stunning. The memorial was dedicated by Mrs Salomans on 16 August 1920 and is named after her husband, Leopold Salomons, who gave 230 acres of land at Box Hill to the National Trust in 1914.
Nearly one million people visit this spot on Box Hill every year, well worth a visit!
We stayed at Wotton House in Dorking which coincidentally was owned by John Evelyn, the landscape designer! I wasn't aware of this at the time of booking, so it was a lovely surprise.
John Evelyn (1620-1706) and his elder brother George created the first Italian garden in England, at Wotton House. Work started in 1643 and was completed in 1652...a little longer than I like my design schemes to take!
The garden and its two grottoes are grade II* listed...perhaps one day one of my projects will be listed!
