Box Hill

Took a little drive over to Box Hill in Surrey today. Planted one of the hedgehogs here as I had planned. Should be pretty close to the Hercules box, so make sure to get them both at the same time. Also, a lot of geocaches around this area. I only had time to do 3, but there are at least 10. You'll have a great time if you come on a nice warm day and do both boxing and caching!

Box Hill is a National Trust area between Dorking & Leatherhead in Surrey. Dorking is nearly the center of Surrey and lies directly south of London. Convenient to get to from London or nearby Gatwick Airport.

People have been coming here for hundreds of years (Daniel Defoe lived near here once and wrote about it back in the 1700s.) Box Hill is one of the best-known summits of the North Downs (the whole of south-east England was once covered by a huge dome of chalk which has eroded down to form two ridges: the North and South Downs), the chalk ridge which runs from the Hampshire border to the west, eastwards through Surrey and Kent to Dover. It is 634 ft tall and stands at the corner of one of the few big gaps in the otherwise unbroken line of the North Downs. The name Box Hill comes from the box trees that grow here.

Beautiful views, but unfortunately, a dreary December day isn't the best choice. Still, a good day out. Not too exciting in the winter - as far as seeing beautiful plants, orchids, and animals. I think a trip back in the spring will be necessary.

Photos:
Views of the countryside
Car Park trailhead - white paper on left comments on a recent dog attack on some sheep :(
Box Hill Fort - built in 1899 to protect London from southern invasions
Baa Baa Black Sheep - sheep are important here in encouraging flora & fauna diversity
An evil little nano geocache - it was so small I couldn't hardly get the minute log out