28-589: Peaslake , Hoe , and Colman's Hill are in the centre of the Surrey Hills National Landscape and mid-west of the Greensand Ridge about 5 miles (8.0 km) ESE of Guildford . Surrounded by denser pine and other coniferous forest-clad hills, the three conjoined settlements have a small core in Peaslake itself with the amenities of a village , but are otherwise lightly scattered settlements at
56-567: A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), lies within the area. Surrey Hills National Landscape is surrounded by an Area of Great Landscape Value, which covers a further eight percent of the county. The Surrey Hills area has three long-distance walks running through it: the North Downs Way , the Greensand Way and the Pilgrims' Way . Waverley (district) The Borough of Waverley
84-494: A coalition of the Liberal Democrats , Farnham Residents , Labour and Greens . The same coalition continues to run the council following the 2023 election . The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The role of mayor
112-498: A higher elevation than the centre of Shere , the civil parish . The area referred to by the 2011 census covers 302 hectares (750 acres). Friends of the Hurtwood maintains and coppices 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of surrounding forest, the Hurtwood, which comprises: Holmbury Hill , Pitch Hill, Winterfold, Shere Heath, Farley Heath and part of Blackheath Common . It is in the civil parish of Shere . The earliest mention of Peaslake
140-535: A village hall, pub, a bike shop and a multi-purpose village shop that serves teas and hot snacks, and incorporates a post office. St Mark's church, built in 1889, is in the centre of the village, opposite the village hall. It is in the same parish as St James in Shere and the Sunday morning services alternate between them. The village school is unusual in that it is owned and run by residents and parents, who bought it after it
168-472: Is a local government district with borough status in Surrey , England. The council is based in the town of Godalming . The borough also contains the towns of Farnham and Haslemere and numerous villages, including the large village of Cranleigh , and surrounding rural areas. At the 2021 Census, the population of the borough was 128,200. The borough is named after Waverley Abbey , near Farnham. Large parts of
196-572: Is a 422 km (163 sq mi) National Landscape in Surrey , England. It comprises around one quarter of the land area of the county and principally covers parts of the North Downs and Greensand Ridge . It was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in May 1958 and was redesignated as a National Landscape in 2023. The Surrey Hills National Landscape borders the Kent Downs AONB to
224-570: Is influenced by its position within the landform of the Weald . It contains parts of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge and large parts of the borough are within the Surrey Hills AONB . It has the most green space in absolute terms in Surrey at 293.1 km (113.2 sq mi) according to the central government-compiled Generalised Land Use database of January 2005, approximately half of which
252-582: Is largely ceremonial in Waverley. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council . The leaders since 2003 have been: Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was: The Labour and Green councillors sit together as a group. The next election is due in 2027. Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 50 councillors representing 24 wards , with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. Waverley's landscape
280-575: Is the highest). Blackheath Common is also part of the area. The northern ridge of the hills, predominantly formed by chalk , is separated from the southern ridges, which are predominantly greensand , by the Vale of Holmesdale , which continues into Kent. The North Downs provide a haven for rare plants and insects. Parts of the area are owned and managed by the National Trust , including Ranmore Common , Leith Hill and Box Hill . Chiddingfold Forest ,
308-659: Is woodland. Blackheath Common , in the north of the borough, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest , as is the Devil's Punch Bowl in the south of the district. A Legatum Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute in October 2016 showed Waverley as the most prosperous council area in the United Kingdom. Waverley is entirely divided into civil parishes . The parish councils for Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere take
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#1732869768052336-593: The Surrey and national averages; in Colman's Hill only 5% of housing was rented, or living rent-free from another. The village is served, weekdays only, by Compass Bus route 25 from Guildford to Cranleigh, taking about 40 minutes from the bus station. The nearest railway station is Gomshall on the North Downs Line , about 1 mi (1.6 km) north. Peaslake is referenced in Colin Forbes ' thriller "The Leader and
364-475: The Damned", in an episode where a pair of lovers, trapped in the carnage of WWII Europe, dream of a happy future in post-war England: - "I know a little village in Surrey, near Guildford. All huddled down in the folds of the hills..." - "Peaslake?" - "Oh, you know it, too!" [REDACTED] Media related to Peaslake at Wikimedia Commons Surrey Hills National Landscape The Surrey Hills National Landscape
392-538: The Friends of the Hurtwood. Three of the nine car parks within Hurtwood are closest to Peaslake. Almost 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Pitch Hill, wholly within Shere parish bounds and slightly closer to Holmbury St Mary , is Holmbury Hill – this is a Bronze Age multivallate hill fort ; its elevation is 261 m (856 ft) AOD . Further to the east is Wotton and Abinger Commons . Its most notable features are just over
420-603: The South East is at Capel . The Greensand Way runs from mid Kent to Hindhead , Surrey, on the border of Hampshire . It stays along the crest of the Downs and is accessed from Peaslake by a nearly straight road at a similar elevation, using a natural ravine formed by Cobbler's Brook which rises on the opposite side of the Duke of Kent School , close but within Ewhurst parish. Amenities are
448-491: The borough are within the Surrey Hills National Landscape . The neighbouring districts are Guildford , Mole Valley , Horsham , Chichester , East Hampshire , Hart and Rushmoor . The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . The new district covered the area of four former districts, which were all abolished at the same time: The new district was named after Waverley Abbey in
476-513: The centre of the Surrey Hills and about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Guildford. The Law Brook, a tributary of the Tillingbourne , has a source within the parish. In total, with 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of surrounding forest, the Hurtwood comprises: Holmbury Hill, Pitch Hill, Winterfold, Shere Heath, Farley Heath and part of Blackheath Common . It is largely common land and is maintained by
504-459: The chair of the council to take the title of mayor. Waverley Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council . The whole borough is also covered by civil parishes , which form a third tier of local government. The council has shared a chief executive with neighbouring Guildford Borough Council since 2017. The council has been under no overall control since 2019, being run by
532-611: The east and the South Downs National Park to the south west. The highest summit of the Surrey Hills National Landscape, Leith Hill near Coldharbour , is 294 metres (965 ft) above sea level. It is part of the Greensand Ridge , which traverses the National Landscape from west to east, and is the second highest point in south-east England ( Walbury Hill at 297 metres or 974 feet above sea level
560-454: The feel that it is more remote than it is, and which makes it quieter than the villages closer to the A25 . The position, in one of the most uniformly forested parts of the Greensand Ridge , provides a variety of trees on varying terrain. The scattered settlement with a core at Peaslake is between 110 and 210 m (360 and 690 ft) above sea level. All three adjoining small settlements are in
588-478: The last decade of the 19th century a road from Ewhurst , practicable for wheeled vehicles, was the first one brought into Peaslake as district councils were instituted . It was formerly accessible from the north, but was on the edge of the accessible country with no real road beyond. A Working Men's Institute that no longer exists was built in 1891 by the Misses Spottiswoode of Drydown, multiple benefactors to
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#1732869768052616-568: The neighbourhood. Most of the oldest extant houses were built in the brief Edwardian period (1901–1911). The writer, Ralph Lawrence, recalls hearing the guns on the Western Front while walking in Hurtwood in the First World War . Peaslake is set in rolling meadows and forests in terms of topography, soil type and land use. Access to the village by car can only be gained by using roads which are at some point single track, which gives visitors
644-557: The parish bounds which tends to allocate the watershed crest to Ewhurst (in Waverley as visible by a dark line in the top‑right map of this article). These are Pitch Hill (sometimes called "Coneyhurst Hill") which, at 257 metres (843 ft), is the fifth‑highest point in Surrey, an adjoining knoll along the same crest has the Ewhurst windmill , which is a somewhat rustic, inhabited listed example – its only other comparator in
672-607: The parish of Farnham, which was the earliest Cistercian monastery in Britain. For the first six years of its existence, the council was based outside the district at the former Hambledon Rural District Council's offices at Bury Fields in Guildford . In April 1980, the council moved to purpose-built headquarters at The Burys in Godalming, behind Godalming Borough Hall . The district was awarded borough status on 21 February 1984, allowing
700-490: The three divisions of Peaslake who owned their home outright was at least 13.3% above the borough average and 19.4% above the national average (in Colman's Hill, greater still in the other two). The proportion who owned their home with a loan was within 2% of the borough average except in Colman's Hill where it was 9.9% greater than the national average. This provides in each area for a lower proportion than average of rented residential property and of social housing relative to
728-458: Was closed by the local education council in 1994. It is free to pupils (except those in the nursery classes) and raises all its own running costs (over £100,000 a year) without council or government support (aside from "early years" funding). It offers education for fifty children from age 3 to 7. The school was made a Free school in September 2013 It has a roll of 29 pupils. The Hurtwood Inn hotel
756-574: Was constructed in 1920 and was an early part of what became the Trust House Forte hotel group. In all 111 houses make up the main centre of the village of 346 in total. The United Kingdom Census 2011 considered the village as three relevant output layers, approximately a quarter of the ward Shere , the latter being used for elections to Guildford Borough Council . All parts featured their single largest proportion of housing as single family homes with gardens. The proportion of households in
784-442: Was in 1784, when Francis Haybitle, a farm labourer "of Peaslake", left (to the vestry ) a rentcharge of 15s. a year on a cottage in Shere to provide bread for the poor. Peaslake School was founded by George Cubitt (the 1st Lord Ashcombe) , Mr. Justice Bray, the Misses Spottiswoode, and others in 1870. John Bartholomew mentions the place in his gazetteer of 1887 as a village in Shere parish, Surrey "4½ miles SE. of Guildford". In
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