A walk through literary Box Hill

“He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle slur and shake. ” George Meredith, The Lark Ascending

When standing on the top of Box Hill, five ward over the gorse the dark ridge of the When Meredith died, Barrie wrote his miles from the M25 and the second high - fir and heath country ran companionably essay, e Greenwood Hat, Being a Memoir est hill in Surrey, it is easy to see how to the south west, the valley between, with of James Anon 1885-1887 which was about George Meredith was inspired to write his undulations of wood and meadow sunned Meredith and his image of him on the hill. poem e Lark Ascending . When sur - or shaded, clumps and mounds, promon - “He [Meredith] was royalty at its most rounded by wildlife and green space it tories, away to the broad spaces of tillage august to Anon [Barrie], whose very first would not have just been a skylark soaring banked by wooded hills, and dimmer be - railway journey on coming to London was upwards. yond and farther, the faintest shadowiness to Box Hill to gaze at the shrine. ere is a He described the down lands beautifully of heights, as a veil to the illimitable. Yews, grassy bank, or there was (for I go there no in his novel Diana of the Crossways. junipers, radiant beeches, and gleams of more), opposite the gate, and the little “rough an old gravel-cutting a gateway service-tree or the whitebeam, spotted the royal residence is only some twenty yards led to the turf of the down, spring turf semicircle of swelling green down black away. Even to Anon that day it seemed bordered on a long line, clear as a race - and silver.” small but very royal. He sat on the grassy course, by golden gorse covers, and left - When Meredith lived in the Flint bank and quivered. Presently he saw a face Cottage situated at the bottom of Burford at the window of a little sitting room he Spur, fellow writers such as JM Barrie and was to be very familiar with in the here - Robert Louis Stevenson were visitors. e after. He knew whose face it was. en the slope opposite the cottage is named after figure stood in the doorway, an amazing Barrie and is still known as Barrie’s Bank. handsome man in grey clothes and a red necktie. He came slowly down the path to - Juniper Hall wards the gate. It was too awful for Anon. He ran away. Something I wrote made him ask me to visit him, and after that I was often at Flint Cottage for stretches of time until he died in 1909. I loved this man more every time I saw him. e last time, when he was very frail, I said I thought he h t i had a better colour, and he replied with a d e r

e smile, ‘Yes, a pretty green.’” M

e Meredith was not the only writer to find g r

o inspiration on the Surrey Hill. Who can e

G forget Jane Austen’s famous picnic scene in

24 FOCUS The Magazine January/February 2019 www.focus-info.org “ George was not the only writer to find inspiration on the Surrey Hill. Who can forget Jane Austen’s famous picnic scene in Emma ?”

Emma ? It is the place where Emma lets her the country.” e thought of Epsom resi - Camilla . In her diaries Austen mentioned: tongue run away with her, allowing words dents running amok on the hill is such a “We are about a mile and a half from to tumble out of her mouth and roll across lovely image for someone like me who was Norbury Park and two miles from the landscape. Could the hill inspire such born there. Mickleham. I am become already so stout freedom in such a regimented social situa - During the French Revolution, Juniper a walker, by use and with the help of a very tion? Well yes, I believe that it can and Hall, situated at the bottom of the hill in able supporter, that I go to those places does frequently. Saying what one thinks at Mickleham, became the home of a group and return home on foot without fatigue, Box Hill is a little-known past time for the of French emigres escaping the chaos and when the weather is kind.” locals and visitors to the beauty spot. violence of the overthrow of the French Mystery author Cyril Hare set his 1954 Although Austen describes the hill as monarchy. e hill became home to Anne novel at Yew Tree's Shade (published in “not Switzerland” in winter when it snows, Louise Germaine de Staël. Her works, the U.S. as Death Walks the Woods ) at a many locals describe seeing walkers climb - both her novels and travel literature, with local beauty spot called “Yew Hill”, which ing the Burford Spur as if ascending into emphasis on passion, individuality and op - Hare acknowledges in the introduction is the Alps. To be fair, it is only a 5% gradi - positional politics made their mark on ent for a 129m hill. European Romanticism. based on Box Hill. John Keats spent time on the hill when General Alexandre D’Arblay also found Today Box Hill is still a place for picnics, finishing the final touches of his poem sanctuary at the hall and it was here that and I will leave it to the mistress of satire Endymion. He mentioned his stay at what he met Fanny Burney the 18th century Jane Austen to finish our journey through is now called the Burford Bridge Hotel in novelist, whom he later married. Burney Box Hill: “ey had a very fine day for letters written to his friend John Hamilton wrote satirical novels such as Evelina, Box Hill… Nothing was wanting but to be Reynolds. “I like this place very much,” he Cecilia and Camilla . It is possible that happy when they got there. Seven miles said simply. One night he ventured out of Austen met Fanny here. Austen took the were travelled in expectation of enjoyment, the hotel to walk up the hill seeking “after title of her best-known novel Pride and and everybody had a burst of admiration the moon”. Prejudice from the last paragraph of on first arriving…” One of my personal favourites is Daniel Defoe’s writing in 1720. He described a rendezvous on the hill in the summer. “… George Lambert ‘Box Hill’ Of coaches and horsemen, with abundance of gentlemen and ladies from Epsome to take the air, and walk in the box woods: and in a word, divert, or debauch, or per - haps both, as they thought fit, and the game increased so much, that it began al - most on a sudden, to make a great noise in Burford Bridge Hotel

© The National Trust

www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 25 Getting to Box Hill Box Hill is approximately a one-hour drive from Central London. Enjoy beautiful scenery with high hills and superb walking trails for the whole family. Box Hill is part of the richmondPRIVATE DOCTORS‘ practice SERVICE National Trust which means National Trust members can park for free. Guided walks of the area are available. ere’s a café on site to unwind in after a long walk. Bring your dog, they’re welcome too. Driving Take the A3 south and follow the signs for Leatherhead. e The family doctor. National Trust car park is at Tadworth. Redefined. Public transport Trains leave from Waterloo station to Surbiton or Victoria station to Dorking. From either station you’ll need to take a short bus ride followed by a short walk to Box Hill. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/box-hill

Burford Bridge Hotel At the Foot of Box Hill, RH5 6BX Telephone 0207 660 0684 Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Juniper Hall GP Paediatrician Gynaecologist Old London Rd, Dorking 020 8940 5009 Surrey RH5 6DA (use RH5 6BZ for Satnavs). Mon – Sat and evenings www.field-studies-council.org Clinical excellence hassle-free 7ELCOMING)NTERNATIONAL&AMILIES 'D\   %RDUGLQJ  ‡,%'3 $3‡1DWLRQDOLWLHV‡$YHUDJH&ODVV6L]H

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26 FOCUS The Magazine January/February 2019 www.focus-info.org