Few Surrey outings pack as much into a morning as the walk from Newlands Corner down to the Silent Pool. You start on the chalk ridge of the North Downs, drop through woodland to a small, clear lake, and can climb back up with a story worth telling. It suits walkers who like a proper hill, families with sturdy shoes, and anyone hosting visitors who want the Surrey Hills in a single loop.
Newlands Corner: the viewpoint
Newlands Corner sits on the A25 (Dorking Road) near Shere and Albury, postcode GU4 8SE, in the heart of the Surrey Hills National Landscape. At over 170m on the chalk ridge, it looks across the Tillingbourne valley to the Greensand Ridge. Surrey Hills describes it as a great place to start a walk, and it is hard to argue.
The site is 103 hectares (250 acres), owned by the Albury Estate and open to the public under an Access Agreement with Surrey County Council. The council's visitor page lists three self-guided trails, an Ancient Yew Tree boardwalk, a natural play area, refreshments and facilities.
Café: open daily from 9am, with closing times that vary by season. Toilets are open during café hours.
Parking: the large car park at Newlands Corner is currently listed as free by Surrey Hills. Charges were brought in at the site in 2018 and a council report recommended ending them from April 2020, so it is worth glancing at the signs when you arrive.
Accessibility: the Acorn trail is 700m, suitable for wheelchairs and buggies, with accessible benches. A RADAR key for the accessible toilets is available from the café.
Newlands Corner also has a small place in crime history. Agatha Christie's car was found here in December 1926, at the start of her eleven days of disappearance, and she was later found in Harrogate.
The walk down to the Silent Pool
The North Downs Way gives a direct path descending the slope to the pool, and the Fox Way, which visits the Albury Estate, also passes it. Start at Newlands Corner rather than at the pool: there is a café and toilets, and the car park is the easier one. Walkers on AllTrails say as much.
No exact one-way distance is given by the main route guides, so plan by the loops. A circular walk taking in the Silent Pool, Newlands Corner and St Martha's Hill runs to roughly 6 miles (9.5km). Komoot's loop is 9.51km, about 2 hours 42 minutes, with roughly 200m of ascent, and rates it moderate. The Ramblers describe a longer, 10 mile moderate circuit that carries on south to Waterloo Pond, Chilworth Manor and East Shalford. If you want something shorter, check a map for an out and back from the ridge to the pool.
Be ready for the descent. It is steep and can be slippery, the chalk is treacherous when wet, and paths can be muddy. Walking poles help, and so do boots with grip. Expect a steep climb on the way back up.
Coming without a car is possible but awkward: trains are few, and from Gomshall you need a connecting local bus.
The Silent Pool
The pool is a spring-fed lake at the foot of the North Downs near Albury, about four miles east of Guildford, on the Shere Road (A25), GU5 9BW. The water is clear because it is fed by chalk springs and so picks up little sediment. Surrey Wildlife Trust suggests it is probably an ancient quarry filled by those springs. It is managed with Newlands Corner by Surrey Wildlife Trust, within the Albury Estate, and its outflow runs into the neighbouring Sherbourne Pond. Wikishire notes a footpath to a viewing platform and a walkway around the water, popular since Victorian times. The pool's own circuit is about 1.2 miles (2km).
Set expectations gently. It is small and quiet, and some visitors find it underwhelming at a 3.4 out of 5 on TripAdvisor. Kingfishers can be seen, but in dry years the feeding springs suffer and the pool has tended to dry out, so the water level varies.
Hours and parking
Essential Surrey lists the site as open 10am to 4pm daily, including bank holidays, and closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday. Check the signs, as hours can change.
The Silent Pool car park is a pay by app car park, with the first hour free, then £1 an hour up to four hours (so £3), payable by RingGo, with a £100 penalty for non payment. Read the signs on arrival. The car park is for cars only because of width restrictions, and it gets very busy at peak times, which is another reason to park at Newlands Corner.
The legend
The tale goes that King John, on horseback, surprised a woodcutter's daughter bathing. She refused him and drowned in the deep water, and her ghost is said to appear at midnight. Surrey Live calls it Surrey's most haunted body of water. It is best told as legend: Wikipedia describes it as a 19th century story that appears to come from Martin Farquhar Tupper's 1858 novel Stephan Langton, not a documented medieval event. In 1926 it was feared that Agatha Christie had drowned here.
A drink afterwards: Silent Pool Distillery
Beside the pool is Silent Pool Distillers, Shere Road, Albury, GU5 9BW. The distillery shop is open seven days: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm, Sunday and bank holidays 10am to 5pm.
The distillery tour and tasting costs £25 a person and lasts about 1.5 hours. Tours run Thursday to Sunday year round, plus some bank holidays. Booking in advance is essential, there are no open tickets, and guests must be 18 or over with photo ID. Do not rely on the distillery for lunch: bring a picnic, or eat at the Newlands Corner café before or after.
Planning the day
Park at Newlands Corner, have a coffee at the café, then take the North Downs Way down to the pool.
Allow around three hours for the loop, plus time at the water.
Wear boots, particularly after rain.
If you are booking the distillery tour, time the walk around it.
More on the viewpoint and surrounding trails is on the Surrey Hills website.
