Hare Hill

• Free on-street parking in neighbouring residential streets
• Bins
• Benches
• Woodland and small meadow
• Interesting wildlife pond
• Surfaced path from Fletcher Close to Howards Lane
• Approx. 1.5km would be a typical circular walk

Where you’ll find it…

Find Hare Hill in Ottershaw, just south of the B3121, Spinney Hill, at the top of Spratts Lane, nearest postcode KT15 1AZ. Grid reference TQ 03262 64000. What3Words: soils.edges.many. There’s no dedicated car park, but on-street parking is possible in surrounding residential roads (e.g. Slade Road KT16 0HZ, grid reference TQ 03014 63876, What3Words: during.hurt.park, from where you can cut through Spratts Alley to Spratts Lane; bottom of Spratts Lane KT16 0HU, grid reference TQ 03161 63825, What3Words: factor.social.rental; or Fletcher Close KT16 0JT, grid reference TQ 03108 63659, What3Words: undulation.clip.cycle).

N.B. We’ve given the nearest postcodes, but recommend using the links to look up the exact location. The centre of a postcode may be up to half a mile from your destination.

What you’ll find there…

A lovely little woodland full of birdsong and surprisingly interesting and varied for a small place. If you enter the woodlands from Spratts Lane, you’ll pass down an avenue of trees. Take a look at these fine old Hornbeams, once a hedge and now just an echo of the woodland’s past. Arriving from the avenue at the pond you’ll find fine English Oaks too, once part of a field boundary perhaps. These huge old trees are thought to be around 400 years old and must be home to all sorts of wildlife, from tiny insects that live between the layers of a leaf, to woodpeckers and even owls.

And don’t tell Mary Berry, Hare Hill has a soggy bottom! A large pond fed by a nearby spring. Great for wildlife, so the local council ask us to keep dogs out of the water to benefit the creatures that make this soggy patch their home.

A surfaced path runs from the entrance just off Fletcher Close, around the pond and up to the entrance off Howards Lane. Useful as a route between Ottershaw and Row Town.

If you’re looking for a longer circular walk, take a look at our ‘Linking Ottershaw’s Greenspaces’ route. The 8km walk uses public rights of way to link up Homewood Park, Hare Hill, Timber Hill, Ottershaw Chase and Ether Hill. It’s a great walk, but requires two busy road crossings, and a short section of road walking to link Fox Hills Road with Homewood Park. We’ve saved this and all other routes to OutdoorActive.

NOTE: Signs at the pond say “DANGER DEEP WATER”.

Gallery…

This ‘Greenspace on your doorstep’ is managed by…

Runnymede Borough Council