Stood at one of Surrey’s most famous viewpoints, Box Hill, it feels like you can see the edge of the world on the horizon. Lower your eyes for a moment and you’ll find the town of Dorking, sprawling out from around the spire of St Martin’s Church.
Depending on your direction of travel into town, you may head past England’s largest single estate vineyard, one of Surrey’s premium antiques and interiors shopping streets, one of the nation’s great lost landscapes or a giant cockerel forged from steel. Clearly, Dorking is not your average town.
In West Street, you’ll find the heart of Dorking’s independent spirit with its antiques shops packed full of unique treasures, coffee shops and pubs, one of the best beer shops/micropubs in Surrey (Cobbett’s Real Ale), The Gilliangladrag Fluff-a-torium (seriously, check it out!) and the Head for the Hills bike shop, where you can shop for electric bikes, as well as the traditional variety.
Jump on a bike from Dorking and you can explore some of Surrey’s most charming villages and pristine beauty spots, such as the aforementioned Box Hill or the highest point in South East England at Leith Hill Tower. That countryside also plays host to some exceptional Surrey food and drink producers, including but not limited to Chimney Fire Coffee, Dorking Brewery, The Gin Kitchen and Hill House Farm (as well as those mentioned in the Abinger Hammer section later!).
Back in the town centre though, you’ll find an elongated High Street with what seems on a quick glance to be thousands of shops. Highlights include the award-winning Dorking Butchery, St Martin’s Walk, Kuoni Travel and The White Horse hotel. To list them all would be to create a directory, but it’s also where most of the national brands can be found.
Denne historien er fra March 2020-utgaven av Surrey Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra March 2020-utgaven av Surrey Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The House That Rocks
Transforming an impressive, seven-bedroom Victorian property in Dorking wasn’t without its challenges, but the result is a stunning family home that has had the interiors world raving
REMEDY FOR SUCCESS
Surrey’s Tracy Borman discusses the return of her heroine healer in the final book of her best-selling fictional trilogy
Love Celia
Actress Celia Imrie has travelled the world for work and leisure but wherever she goes there is a part of her which is forever Surrey
EXHIBITION OF THE MONTH
Art & Action: Making Change in Victorian Britain at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton focuses on the Victorian roots of art activism
Electric dreams
The Range Rover plug-in hybrid brings silent electric motoring to this iconic luxury car
THE OPEN ROAD
Chris Pickering rounds up some of the best drives in Surrey
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Oxted & Limpsfield
With the North Downs looming nearby and glorious countryside surrounding it, Oxted is a town with real “escape from London” appeal and character, while nearby Limpsfield has a superb village vibe with its own community-run pub
Artist to the stars
Known as ‘The Face of Modern British Impressionism’, Mickleham-based Sherree Valentine Daines is celebrating four decades at the forefront of her field
A RIGHT ROYAL WELCOME
The Signet Collection’s inaugural hotel project is a reimagining of a former royal guest house, situated directly opposite Hampton Court Palace
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Godalming & Hascombe
On the banks of the River Wey, Godalming is a watercolour pretty town surrounded by pristine countryside and in-demand rural villages, such as Hascombe
