18 December - Exploring the area

Our first full day here, we set off to explore Ashtead. There are three parts of town. The closest is the little village near the pub with a news agent, café, butcher and greengrocer. About a 10 minute walk from our street, past a little duck pond, is Little Ashtead which is a busy village with  lots of shops; everything from bakery to mini Tesco (grocery store) to vet.  I tried a Chelsea bun at the bakery, which was very good. I promised the lovely lady working at the counter that I would eat my way through all the offerings in the next three weeks.

A 15 minute walk beyond that takes you to Ashtead proper, which is about 3 times the size of Ashtead village. Along the way we passed an old characterful house with a bit of a saggy roof, a traditional post box (which you almost never see in London) and a wonderful little hall called the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall, which was erected after WW1. It is now used for community events like the flower arranging club, the knitting club, etc.

I love British road signs.

Ashtead proper. Note people at the sidewalk cafe. It was about 45 °. They're hardy folks.

Busy time leading up to Christmas. Time to get those cards in the post.

In the afternoon, we took the train to Dorking.  The inhabitants are known as Dorks.  Okay, I just made that up.

On the way into town I passed the Willow Walk Meadowbank. Once part of a large estate, it was donated to the town of Dorking by a developer. The landscape used to feature pollarded willow trees on the banks. Personally, I think pollarded trees look particularly bizarre, but that's just me. The Mole Valley(!) District Council is now restoring this landscape feature. It does make a lovely walk into town.

Bruce crawled and I headed to the well-known antiques district.  There are a number of stores and a number of dealers within each.  It’s a feast for the eyes and an easy way to pass a few hours and spend lots of money you don't have. 

One of about 40 rooms I visited in the antiques district:

I loved this little figurine of cats playing billiards.

Who couldn't use a set of silver cake forks?

I treated myself to a lovely lapis and silver necklace and decided that I would definitely return to look around a bit more, since many stores are closed on Monday.

Dorking Christmas lights:

I found a little alleyway off the main street with a couple of shops and an art gallery. The building was formerly The King's Arms pub, though the building says "The Olde Kings Head." Believed to have been the oldest pub in Dorking, established in 1405, it features in Charles Dickens' novel, Little Dorritt, and is believed to have been visited by King Charles II.

We’ve both been hankering for proper English fish and chips, so Bruce set out to find a pub that served them.  After trying five different pubs, we gave up and headed back to Ashtead where Bruce went out to Little Ashtead to the chippie. Sadly, it wasn’t terribly good.  That’s alright, we’re here for a while longer and we’re not quitters.  We’ll find proper fish and chips, I’m sure. After supper, we watched the first three episodes of a wonderful comedy starring Welsh comedian/actor Greg Davies called The Cleaner, about a man who cleans up crime scenes.  Doesn’t sound like fodder for comedy, does it?  It is, though, and is absolutely hilarious.  Great guest stars, too. (Helena Bonham Carter and  David Mitchell were in the two we watched.) Looking forward to seeing the rest.