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The Countryside Code

And finally, as you journey along the North Downs Way, please treat the countryside with the care and respect it deserves and needs, and follow the Countryside Code:

 be safe, plan ahead and follow any signs

 leave gates and property as you find them

 protect plants and animals and take your litter home

 keep dogs under close control

 consider other people.

The Countryside Code started life in the 1950s as the Country Code. It still adheres to the principles set out by Octavia Hill, a champion of the countryside and a co-founder of the National Trust, who wrote in the early years of the 20th century:

‘Let the grass growing for hay be respected, let the primrose roots be left in their loveliness in the hedges, the birds unmolested and the gates shut. If those who frequented country places would consider those who live there, they would better deserve, and more often retain, the rights and privileges they enjoy.’

STAGE 1

Farnham to Guildford

Start Farnham Finish Guildford Distance 11 miles (17.5km) Maps Harveys North Downs Way West 1:40,000 OS Landranger 186 Aldershot & Guildford 1:50,000 OS Explorer 145 Guildford & Farnham 1:25,000 Refreshments Farnham, Compton, Guildford Accommodation Farnham, Puttenham, Guildford

‘The soil is good; the houses are neat; the people are neat; the hills, the woods, the meadows all are beautiful.’ So said the much-travelled William Cobbett of the area covered by this stage of the North Downs Way. Cobbett (1763–1835) was born in Farnham in what is now the pub named after him, and although he walked nowhere unless it was impossible to ride, he had an unchallenged intimacy with the Downs and the Weald that adds weight to his words. Nearly two centuries on they remain largely true.