A diary by James Attfield...

We arrived at Box Hill just after midday and as we drove up the hill towards the top we passed loads of cyclists going both up and down the hill.

As we reached the top there was a special free car park reserved for members and the disabled and it was very close to the shop and coffee house.

Dad says that if we visit a National Trust place once a month we would get half of our membership costs back alone even before we have gone in to any of the places.

© James Attfield

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The Fort

We were parked next to a sort of fort that was built as part of a chain of defences in 1891 to protect London from invasion. It was half covered by earth and we could see the chimneys poking out of the top of the grass that allowed the soldiers to have fires to keep warm. The guidebook says that there are bats living in the fort now but because it was daylight we did not see any.

We walked towards the shop and passed more cyclists heading to the coffee shop for a drink. Dad said he was going to come back on his cycle with my uncle because all the cyclists were using the very steep hill to keep fit and use the National Trust coffee shop as a break before they went back down again.

© James Attfield

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Salomons Memorial

Dad bought a guidebook from the shop and I got my passport stamped by the helper behind the desk. My brother Peter spent some of his pocket money on some pens and we then went outside to get a drink and plan our walk. We decided to walk to the River Mole at the bottom of the hill so we started to make our way towards the Salomons Memorial that was at the start of the track. You get a fantastic view from the memorial down the hill and there were loads of people having picnics and walking dogs.

We started walking down the path and found that there were steps to make the walk easier down the hill. Peter wanted to count all the steps down the hill (he counted over 320 but I don’t know if this is correct!). There were plenty of posts on the way to point you in the right direction if you do not have a guide.

© James Attfield

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Stepping stones

We finally arrived at the river and found some stepping stones in the river. We walked along these and made it to the other side. The track finally came out to the main A24 road and close to Ranmore village. We decided to have a break at the car park where there is a very good information board about the National Trust before going back up the hill.

When we went back you can choose to use a different path that takes you over a bridge instead of the stepping stones. When we got to the bridge we played 'poo sticks' on the bridge before heading back up the hill and back to the coffee house for another drink.

We all had a great day at Box Hill and it’s a very nice place to go for a picnic or walk if the weather is nice so we would come back another day.

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