Surrey

Waverley Abbey in the 18th century. I love this area. It is about a square mile of history and magic.

I was a frequent visitor to it when at art school in Farnham, Surrey, and briefly worked on the abbey and Farnham Castle when employed on the masonry team for the then Ministry of Works. 'The Ministry of Works' - I love the old-fashioned titles they gave to government departments during the war and after. I also spent a couple of nights in the nearby Moor Park - the first place that Jonathan Swift worked at when he came over from Dublin. Stella's Cottage (the Stella who was Swift's first heart-throb in England) was just down a sandy lane through the woods. To reach it, you walk past Mother Ludlam's Hole, which is just below Father Foote's cave. Don't get me started by asking.

I suppose everyone always loves the place they were brought up in (unless they were born in Birmingham) and for me it is Surrey. I was born a quarter of a mile from The Devil's Punchbowl - the place which William Cobbett (another local) described as 'The most Godforsaken spot on Earth'. I would say he should have got out more, but he got out quite a bit on his rural rides.

I used to ride across the Hog's Back - a high stretch of the road between Guildford and Farnham - on my motorbike every day, passing the famous Hog's Back Hotel which served as a secret communications headquarters in WW2.

Just down from the Hog's Back on the Farnham side is the Watts Gallery and Chapel. This is well worth Googling up if you have a mind to.

Go the opposite direction and head for Dorking and you will pass over Newland's Corner - a spectacularly beautiful plateau on the Surrey Downs. They used the winding road up the steep slopes either side for motor racing in the 1920s and 30s. The cafe at the top still commemorates the races with old photos from the time.

Walk down from the cafe (scramble down actually) and you will find the remnants of The King's Warren' - a yew grove from which they cut the staves used to make bows for the Battle of Agincourt.

Just down the Dorking side of Newland's Corner is The Silent Pool. It really is silent. Legend has it that King John (the wicked one who signed the Magna Carts at Runnymead) sent his huntsmen to catch a young girl he took a fancy to and she drowned in the pool trying to escape them. Legend also has it that since that time, no bird has sung near to the pool. I have visited it many times and never heard birdsong nearby. Every now and then, the limpid waters of the pool turn blood-red from the spring which feeds it. The Silent Pool has been sacred since pre-history.

This part of Surrey is only thirty miles from London (some of the county actually makes up parts of Western London), but is scattered with areas and places which - aside from the odd millionaire's mansion - have not changed for thousands of years.

I must go back for a little tour again soon.