Ripley ranks among Surrey’s prettiest villages and this looping stroll takes you from its centre to its nearby canals and back again

Info

• Start: Cricket Pitch Car Park on Ripley Green

• Grid reference: TQ 053 568

• Map: Ordnance Survey Explore 145

• Length of walk: Four-and-a-half miles with fairly flat, easy walking – can get muddy after rain

• Food/drink: Found on the High Street in Ripley, The Anchor pub (01483 211866) has recently been taken over by one of Surrey’s top chefs. Michelin starred Steve Drake and his wife Serina have teamed up with neighbours Chris and Lisanne Mealing to relaunch the pub, with former Drake’s chef Michael Wall-Palmer at the helm in the kitchen.

• While you’re there: The stunning gardens at RHS Wisley are just up the road and also nearby are the ruins of Newark Priory, which stand on private land but can be viewed from the River Wey towpath.

The loop…

1 From Ripley Green, head back towards the High Street but soon go right across the open space behind the houses and shops to reach the B367 Newark Lane. Go right along the road and just past the entrance to Homewood Farm until you are opposite the reservoir on the other side of the road.

2 Carefully cross the road and go through a gap in the path to edge of the lake. Go left clockwise around the edge of the lake to the other end of the reservoir and the Papercourt Sailing Club.

3 Continue ahead towards Send Marsh until you meet another path at a T-point, and there go right. Continue on until you meet Polesden Lane.

4 Go across and right and then left after Danesfield Lane under a height barrier and follow the footpath as it bears leftish beside fields. Eventually, if you stay on the path and are not distracted, go right towards the pit and weir, and emerge into Tannery Lane, near the Nursery and Heath Farm.

5 Next, go right along the lane to the small group of businesses at the Send Business Centre at Tannery House. At the end of the row of businesses on your left, go left down behind them to find the River Wey Navigation, and cross over the little bridge going right onto the canal footpath heading towards Papercourt Lock, passing canal boats.

6 On reaching the lock, cross over the River Wey and go ahead across the fields, not following the canal, and on to Papercourt Farm.

7 As you come out past small farm buildings onto Papercourt Lane, go left but ahead into the countryside and fields again. Stay straight on this pathway, coming out onto Polesden Lane again and going across to join the pathway around the reservoir edge, then left behind the cottages and past the scout hut.

8 Keep following the reservoir to find where you joined it before, and go back out through the hedge gap, across Newark Lane and right along the road back into Ripley again and the car park on the green.

Viewpoints...

• Papercourt Sailing Club was established in 1961, when sailors reached an agreement with the local gravel extraction company to sail on its water.

• Papercourt Lock ranks among the prettiest on the River Wey, with its picturesque cottage and its large tumbling bay to cope with the overspill water.

• Ripley features highly in any list of Surrey’s loveliest villages and it’s worth taking the time to do a little post-walk exploration.