BOAT: Lowerhouse Lane

• Overall Rating: 3
• Location: Walliswood, Surrey.
• OS Explorer Map 134, 'Crawley & Horsham'.
• Starting OS Grid Reference: TQ113382
• Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 13' 20" W000 41' 10"
• Finishing OS Grid Reference: TQ111395
• Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 14' 40" W000 41' 30"
• To see: not much.
• ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!

This short byway seems to be in the heartland of 'Surrey equestrianism', and as such a large number of riders will often be encountered. This greenlane seems to have been prepared especially for the use of said horses, as it offers a completely unrutted surface of compacted earth that has most certainly been imported from elsewhere. Ideally suited to a canter!

We drove this lane from south to north. Starting just west of the pleasant village of Walliswood the trail strikes out almost due north on a remarkably straight line from a cluster of cottages on Froggetts Lane. Driving through the un-inspirationally titled but agreeably sylvanian Buildings Wood, this relatively short greenlane ends far too quickly back on the tarmac of Lyefield Lane between Lower Breache Farm and Lowerhouse Farm: a distance of less than a mile.

If you can avoid the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' this really is a pleasant lane. It is also very well maintained, with the foliage cut right back, and even in very wettest of conditions it remains well drained. There was room for a chap in a beret to lead three horses abreast and still pass our Land Rover safely qith room to spare (don't ask...). It is therefore very easy going and probably a very good lane for those new to greenlaning to introduce themselves to our chosen leisure pursuit! Just look out for horses, and remain courteous and considerate when you do inevitably meet them.

This is Surrey County Council's Abinger Byway 541.

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