This afternoon Emily, George, Sam, Michelle and I went to Leith Hill. It’s a National Trust place, and as we’re members it was free. It’s classed as a countryside place, but if you want to go up the tower, then you have to pay (unless you’re a member, which we all are). We arrived just after noon, and found a bench to sit down and have our picnic lunch. The views are outstanding, and it’s part of “Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. It doesn’t disappoint.

The view at Leith Hill.

After lunch we climbed the tower and were able to get to the very top. It’s celebrating it’s 250th year (if I look this good after 250 years I’ll be very happy) and they were giving out free badges to commemorate this. Half way up the tower there was a room where you could try on some hats, and look like people back in the olden days. Of course we had to give them a go.

Hats any one?

We then went exploring. Now as a family we have a motto which is “We’re not lost, we’re exploring!” This definitely applied today. We didn’t take a map with us, and decided to just follow the paths. That was a big mistake!! Every time you got to a crossing, each way didn’t give us any clue as to which path we were following. Suddenly we past a little cottage in  the middle of absolute nowhere, and at TNT van drove past delivering something. Then a couple of cars drove past. The road wasn’t a proper road with tarmac, just a track, so they may have been as lost as we were. There was no toilet, so we all needed to water the trees at various intervals. In the end we walked for just over 2 hours, going down and down, and then up and up. The tower was in top of the hill, so we needed to get to the top at some point. We followed tracks marked out by tractor wheels, which suddenly ended. It was far more entertaining than going to the gym for an hour. There was no phone signal so it was  tricky to find exactly where we were on Google Maps, so we just kept on walking and hoping that we would find our way home before it got dark. The kids were getting rather tired by this point, and to be honest so were Michelle and I. But we had no choice but to soldier on. I finally got a signal, and could see that we were in the middle of the woods (well I could tell Google Maps that myself). It was going through my mind that if something happened to us no one would find us….ever!! We finally sighted the tower again with great delight, and Michelle offered to buy us all an ice cream, which I think we’d earned.

George was so exhausted he had to lie down.

Before we left, Michelle and I got a map (I suppose we should have got it sooner) to see where we had walked. Off the map apparently!! We did walk past some lovely cottages and a small farm. Oh the joy of some peace and quiet. A very quaint little hamlet and an old fashioned Phone Box that didn’t take any money, only cards.

Does anyone have 10p?

Such a wonderful day, and lovely to catch up with my sister. On the way back to my sisters, George fell asleep. We had a cup of tea at my sisters, and then worked our way home, which was not easy during the rush hour. We had to change our route because of the traffic. I don’t know about the kids, but I’ll sleep well tonight.