Experience autumn in the Surrey Hills - a season for all the senses

Engage all your senses this autumn to enjoy its full glory. The glorious ambers, reds and golds of trees present a magnificent kaleidoscope of colour. Sniff the air and savour the aroma of wood smoke, damp pasture and the earthy mouldiness of leaf litter.

The season's bounty produces wonderful tangy foods from fruits, nuts and berries. Think apples, hazelnuts and blackberries. Experience the textures of woolly scarves, prickly conker cases and crinkly leaves. Listen to the unique peacefulness of autumn - a quiet tranquillity as nature relaxes after the efforts of summer. An evening sunset, owls calling, the cry of migrating geese.

It's time to get out and drink in the fullness of autumn across the Surrey Hills.

We've highlighted some of our favourite autumnal delights. Many of the them can be found across all of our special places in the Surrey Hills. Wherever you go for a walk, keep your eyes peeled and see what you can find.   

Foraging fruits of the forest

Blackberries
Sloe berries in Hatfield Forest
A bag of roasted chestnuts

Gorgeous blackberries  

The ultimate multi-purpose autumn fruit - crumbles of course, but also pies, cakes, pastries and drinks. The best fruits are in the sunshine, if the birds haven't got there first!

Sumptuous sloes 

Found in hedgerows and woodland edges, blackthorn berries can be cooked. That autumnal sharp sweetness is perfect for jellies, jam or, most especially, sloe gin.

Sweet chestnuts  

Sweet Chestnuts are traditionally roasted at Christmas. They have prickly shells containing 3-4 smallish nuts and the trees can be found in woodland.

Fascinating fungi

Croome Shaggy Inkcap
Birch Polypore
Fungi - Dead man's fingers found in the woodland at Sheringham Park
Blackened bumps of the King Alfred's Cake fungi on dead wood

Shaggy Inkcap 

This fungus appears by paths or on recently disturbed ground. It oozes a sinister black liquid and when it matures, turns black and then dissolves. Fungal magic!

Razor strop fungus 

A very hard fungus and historically was used by barbers to sharpen their razors. Found on birch trees it's a bracket fungus and can grow up to a size of 25 cms across. Monster!

Dead man's fingers 

Look around in deciduous woodlands and especially under beech trees and you may see these rather gruesome dead man's fingers.

King Alfred's cakes  

So named due to its resemblance to burnt cakes, this hard, black and lumpy fungus can often found on ash trees. Also called coal fungus.

Magnificent trees

Golden beech leaves
Lichen is a special type of fungus
Hawthorn berries in the winter
Rowan berries at Brimham Rocks

Majestic beech 

Experience the magic of walking through a beech wood. The leaf cover creates a rich warm glow of yellow and orange, while the large and smooth trunks are majestic.

Stately silver birch 

The buttery yellow leaves flutter elegantly in the breeze. Woodpeckers, siskins, greenfinches and redpolls visit while many types of fungi grow underneath.

Food-rich hawthorn 

Spot the yellow and red leaves of these hedgerow trees. The bright red berries (haws) offer a feast for autumn migrants such as fieldfare and redwing.

Bejewelled rowans 

Rowans leaves are slender and elegant turning yellow, red and orange in autumn. The bright red berries are very popular with birds especially thrushes and waxwings.