Walk 19th September 2016 Young St CP (Lower) - Norbury Park - Crabtree Cottages

Start point:- TQ163551

Distance:- 11.4 km; 7.09 miles

Time taken :- 2 hours 24 minutes

Route:-

Young St (Lower) CP - Icehouse combe - The Priory - Norbury House - Viewpoint - Crabtree CP - Crabtree Cottages - Chapel Wood - Phoenice Farm - Bookham Wood - Denshire Hill - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - CP

This walk is slightly different to the previous walk in that the first viewpoint was omitted, taking a smaller less well used path to Norbury House with the phone mast to your right rather than your left.

Fetcham Downs - grazing by wild rabbits keep the vegetation under control, with a mow taking place only after the grasses and flowers have seeded. Norbury Park is managed by keeping rotting tree trunks as habitats for insects and wildlife, especially if by leaving tree trunks to rot etc. no hazards are presented. Good quality chalk grassland has 40 different species of plants per square metre

Norbury Park is a working landscape, with farms and a commercial sawmill (Norbury Park Wood Products). The park lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and consists of 520 hectares (1,300 acres). It is situated west of the River Mole and the A24 between Westhumble and the borders of Fetcham and Great Bookham.
The reserve is made up of a mixture of woodland, grassland and various areas of farmland. Due to the range of habitats it is an important haven for many plants and animals and a large part has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Some trees are coppiced (cut at ground level) to provide poles for fencing and charcoal-making. Hazel and sweet chestnut coppice add diversity to the woodland. Spring flowers grow under young coppice, while older bushes give cover for birds.
The variety of habitats at Norbury encourage a vast amount of wildlife. There are roe deer, badgers and foxes in the woodland, together with all three British woodpeckers (green, great spotted and the much smaller lesser spotted).
Three tenanted farms; Bocketts, Swanworth and Norbury Park occupy part of the area and our farmers (and their grazing animals) look after much of the land.