Facebook Instagram
Search
Close this search box.

Places of Interest

Places of Interest

Encouraging access and improving the quality and enjoyment of the recreational experience for everyone is a priority for HCPS. The Common is for public recreation for all and there are many points of access from different areas of Horsell and Woking. 

Heather Farm has been very popular ever since it was opened in 2015. The facilities are enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year. There is a large free car park, with plenty of disabled parking areas, EV charging points and even a “posh wash” for the dogs when they get muddy. Heather Farm Café is independently managed serving delicious light meals, pastries and beverages. The extended seating area with plenty of space is helpful for those with buggies or wheelchairs.  

Open from: The Café is open 9am to 5 pm daily. For further details check:  https://www.heatherfarm.cafe/  

Heather Farm Café; 01483 726556 or manager.hfcafe@baronspubs.com for any queries.         

Address: Heather Farm, Chobham Rd, Woking GU21 4XY.                             

From the car park, there is immediate access to the fenced Wetland area with a  walk beside the lake. There is a mix of board walks and raised paths.  After heavy rain, these paths can become very muddy or even flooded. Dogs are not allowed in the Wetland area to protect birds nesting in the reeds at the water’s edge and because it is grazed by Welsh Badger Face sheep as part of the conservation programme. This is a wonderful place to observe birds, watch the sheep and see how many wildflowers there are in the summer months. It is hard to imagine that this area and Heather Farm were once under many feet of concrete as foundations for the mushroom sheds when the site was a mushroom farm. 

 There is also easy access across the River Bourne to the Mimbridge Meadows and Bourne Fields. This area of beautiful meadowland, rich with grasses, flowers and bird song is ideal for family walks and dog walking, with raised paths making it easier for buggies. As the area is in the flood plain of the R.Bourne it can become wet and muddy after rain.

The Sandpit is a most interesting feature of Horsell Common. It can be reached easily from Shores Road free car park.  This is a very popular and busy car park. The H.G. Wells trail, built by HCPS in 2017, is an easy access path leading to the Sandpit where there are a few benches made from timber from fallen trees. 

This is a favourite destination for families as children love to play in the sand and dog owners never tire of throwing sticks for their dogs to retrieve from the seasonal pond. The majestic Scots pines with their webbing of roots exposed on the sandy banks are popular with children and photographers. 

Historically, the Bagshot sand was excavated for many years for use as a building material.  From a literary point of view, this is the site where the Martians landed in “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells.

Car Park: Monument Road GU21 5LU.

The Bedser Trail, named after the famous Bedser cricketing twins, is an easy access footpath with rustic benches and a board walk, suitable for buggies and wheelchairs. The path meanders through tall pines and then into an open heathland habitat. This is a very ancient site with Bronze Age tumuli dating from around 1500BC near the canal at Monument Bridge. There is a disc barrow and a bell barrow beside the Bedser trail and a second bell barrow on the other side of Monument Road. The existence of the barrows indicates that Horsell was an important site for early bronze age man. English Heritage considers the area to be of national importance as it is one of the best examples in Surrey. The Basingstoke canal is located to the south of the woodland. The photo shows the site of the tumuli which are protected by heather growing over the area.

Read More

Car Park: Monument Road GU21 5LU.

Please use the Bedser Trail car park and walk up to the Peace Garden.

The Peace Garden is the site of a Muslim Burial Ground. This is a haven of tranquility, as you sit in the walled garden inspired by traditional Islamic design, with its symmetry and calm, reflective water feature.

Please respect the peace of this memorial garden. We ask that dogs are not taken into the Peace Garden. Across Monument Road from the Peace Garden, there is the Bedser trail where you can continue your walk.

Read More

Car Park: Horsell Common Car Park, Shores Road, (A245) GU21 4HQ

The undulating meadows of McLaren Park, with an abundance of grasses and wildflowers are in contrast to the adjacent heathland. McLaren Park forms part of the HCPS estate. It was developed when the McLaren Production and Technology Centre was being built. This amazing public open space with its wildlife benefits came about as a result of HCPS, WBC and McLaren’s working collaboratively on the project.  Surrey Wildlife Trust scattered wildflower and grass seed over the whole area and today these meadows attract more than 200 species of insects. Broad grassy paths are cut through the meadows and at the end of summer, the vegetation is mown and used for animal fodder. The McLaren buildings and lake are private but afford a glimpse of a state-of-the-art modern factory built sympathetically in an area of natural beauty.

Please see “Walking on Horsell Common” for directions on how to reach McLaren Park from the Shores Road car park and the Sandpit.

Membership

Would you like to become a member of Horsell Common? Click below to find out more! 

Useful Information

wildlife

Download Map

Woodlark

Donate to Horsell Common Preservation Society

Nightjar

Membership

AGM Update

AGM Update

Horsell Common Preservation Society
Company limited by Guarantee – registered in England and Wales Company Number 6460936
Charity No 1123473

Quick Links

Copyright © 2024 Horsell Common Preservation Society

In July 2012 a slit trench was excavated on the south slope of the western of the two bell barrows on Horsell Common. This was to  establish the state of preservation of the mound and obtain environmental samples from any surviving buried soil level and turves. The trench showed that, at least in the area investigated, the mound had been disturbed on several occasions, probably initially by one or more antiquarian ‘treasure hunts’, later by the insertion of an iron sheet-lined Second World War foxhole/machine gun position and finally, more recently, by several small pits. Despite all this, parts of the turf stack core of the barrow remained intact and the environmental samples showed that the barrow was constructed on developed heathland and contained turves from a variety of sources. Uniquely for Surrey, this is the site of one disc and two bell barrows. These form a roughly east–west line running parallel and close to what is now the Basingstoke canal. The group of three barrows lie on the sands of the Bagshot Beds. Bell barrows are generally dated to the early Bronze Age.

David Graham, Audrey Graham, Nicholas P Branch and Michael Simmonds

Originally this was the site of 27 graves of Muslim Indian Soldiers who died in the two world wars.
The original Woking Muslim Military Cemetery was opened in 1917 by the British Government to counteract German propaganda that Muslim Indian soldiers from the army of Undivided India were not being buried according to their religious rites. It was built on common land compulsorily purchased from the Earl of Onslow to receive the bodies of soldiers who died from wounds or illness at temporary army hospitals on the South Coast. 19 Muslim Indian soldiers connected with WW1 were buried there and a further 8 connected with WW2.
In 1921 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission took over the maintenance.
In 1969 because of vandalism of the headstones the bodies were exhumed and reburied at Brookwood Military Cemetery by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the ownership of the Burial Ground was passed to Horsell Common Preservation Society.
It was listed in 1984 by English Heritage as a Grade 2 structure.
In the 1990s HCPS cleared the vegetation and stabilised the walls but unfortunately despite their efforts were unable to find funding for further restoration.
In 2011 Woking Borough Council, in conjunction with HCPS, searched for restoration funding and received an 80% grant from English Heritage with WBC contributing the remainder. Under the supervision of restoration architect Jeremy Poll of Radley House Partnership the walls and Chatri were restored culminating with the gilded finial being lowered into place.
It was realised that the interior space needed to be given meaning and purpose and after a consultation of local people, facilitated by Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Greenspaces scheme, it was decided that a memorial garden with the names of those originally buried there should be installed.
Landscape designer Lionel Fanshawe of Terra Firma was appointed and designed an English interpretation of an Islamic Garden with an Indian granite memorial stone inset with panels of Portland stone engraved with the names of the original burials.
Funding was received from the Army Civilian Covenant Fund, Department of Local Government and Communities, Surrey County Council Community Infrastructure Fund. The Sultanate of Oman, the local Muslim Community via the Shah Jahan Mosque and WBC.
HCPS have committed to maintain the garden with maintenance of the water feature by Woking Borough Council.
The Peace Garden was officially opened on Thursday 12 November 2015 by His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex KG GCVO.
We very much hope you will be able to take time out from your busy lives to visit the Peace Garden and experience its atmosphere of tranquillity and perhaps reflect on the sacrifice made not only by those fighting in the British Army in two world wars but also by the many nations and religions that fought beside them, including the Muslim soldiers of the army of Undivided India some of whom were originally buried here.

Skip to content