On a bright spring day at the end of April, a group of 40 Society members joined the Chairman, Neil Maltby, for a special day out in the district of Tandridge, at the eastern end of the county.

The starting point was a farm in Chaldon where the farmer (Roger Colebrook) and his wife greeted us with refreshments before giving us some background on the pleasures and problems of farming in Surrey. We were then taken on a guided tour to see the wide range of cattle breeds that Roger works with and a wander through some of the fields to talk about the crops and view the local scenery. This was a fascinating insight into the issues surrounding sympathetic farming, from the viewpoint of someone who really is “hands-on”.

The group then relocated to Godstone and met up at Bay Pond. This is a Surrey Wildlife Trust nature reserve where the facilities are used for educational purposes. We were privileged to have Nigel Davenport (SWT Chief Executive and member of the SHS management committee) with us as host and he had arranged for three of his very knowledgeable volunteers to act as guides. The reserve is larger than the name suggests. There are actually three ponds and two meadows – all very different habitats – and the guides provided a wealth of information about them. After the “broad brush” landscape of an arable farming area, this provided an interesting contrast due to the large number of different species within a small area.

After a two course lunch in a local hostelry it was off to Titsey for a private guided tour of Titsey Place plus the opportunity to wander the gardens and partake of a cream tea. A brief article like this cannot do justice to the House and grounds so a look at their website, www.titsey.org, is a good starting point.

The County Council have informed us that the Coldharbour application has been deferred from the May Planning & Regulatory Committee.  The reason given is that some ecological issues have arisen with the application and the applicant is currently considering how they will deal with these issues. Whether the application is now heard in June or December-time will depend on how the applicant wants to deal with the ecological issues that have arisen.

Neil Maltby

April 29th 2010

The New Year has seen more involvement from Surrey Hills Society members considering issues such as 'De-cluttering in Surrey' and 'Revising the Surrey Hills AONB boundary'.  Further details and news of visits being planned are in the Spring 2010 newsletter.