Runfold Ridge Contact
The site contact for our Runfold Ridge space is BVCP Ranger Team Tel: 01252 331 353
This space is managed in partnership with Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership
Region: South Central
This sloping rural green space was established in 2020 on former arable farmland. Fine elevated views across the wider landscape, existing woodland copses and native hedgerows, new native woodland, shrub and hedgerow planting, and a new species-rich meadow make this an attractive new site for local people and wildlife.
Runfold Ridge is managed in partnership with Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership for the benefit of the local community and wildlife. BVCP looks after the site on a day-to day-basis and provides community volunteering opportunities.
The site contact for our Runfold Ridge space is BVCP Ranger Team Tel: 01252 331 353
This space is managed in partnership with Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership
Open access
Free carpark which is locked. Opening times 6am – 8pm all year.
(click here to find the nearest public toilets)
Bears Restaurant at The Packhouse is open 9am-5pm on weekdays, and 10am-5pm on weekends.
The site is free to use.
The land forms the slopes to the Hogs Back and is moderately steep in parts. There are no surfaced paths.
Well controlled dogs are welcome.
Walking, bird watching and wildlife spotting.
Within the former arable fields there are two woodland copses comprising ash, sycamore and cherry. Hawthorn, hazel, elder and ash are the main hedgerow species.
Ash Green Meadows, Wellesley Woodlands, Tice's Meadow, Runfold Wood, Hogs Back Brewery, North Downs Way
Tongham Road, Runfold, Surrey, GU10 1PJ
Site size: 12 hectares
The name Runfold has its roots in Saxon English and links to many Surrey towns and villages with a similar ending. “Fold” relates to the clearance of forest for grazing sheep and cattle. The nearby village was a farming community with many surrounding fields used for growing brewers hops in the past.
The Hog’s Back ridge formed part of a line of Second World War defences against a potential land invasion
of London, known as the Runfold/ Aldershot/ Ash stop line. Anti-tank ditches from the 1940’s remain in the surrounding area and a pillbox for guarding land and fi ring weapons exists on site.
These former arable fields rest upon the northern slope of the Hog’s Back, a chalk ridge that forms the western end of the North Downs; a major landscape feature of southern England extending to the White Cliffs of Dover.
This Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) was established in 2020. The purpose of this and other local SANGs is to avoid increased recreational pressure on the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) from new residential development by providing alternative recreational areas that offer a similar experience to the SPA.
The land was formerly agricultural fields that came out of arable production in 2019. Following establishment of the SANG the site is being managed in accordance with a SANG management plan for the benefit of people and wildlife.
Management by the Land Trust will seek to enhance the biodiversity and recreational value of the new site for visitors.
To contact the Land Trust about this site or how we could help manage your space please click here .
To enquire about holding an event on a Land Trust site, please click here.
We are always on the look out for enthusiastic, committed people who want to make a real and lasting difference in their local community.
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