Runnymede residents have many beautiful places to walk. Particularly enjoyable are three short walks in the woodlands around Ottershaw. They are managed by Runnymede Borough Council, have interpretation boards and are waymarked. They can be linked together to make one longer walk for the more energetic. The three woodland circuits are Timber Hill and Chaworth Copse (1.2 km, 0.75 mile), Ether Hill (1.4 km. 0.9 mile) and Ottershaw Chase (800 metres, 0.5 mile).
Timber Hill is accessible from the free car park opposite Christ Church on the A320. A dispenser has free copies of a leaflet about all three walks. A choice of footpaths through the trees takes the walker down the hill to Brox Road. Birch trees predominate here, indicating young woodland. Indeed, towards the end of the 19th century, this area was allotments, the last few disappearing as late as 1960. The footpath through Chaworth Copse returns the walker to the car park. This was once nursery land and some was landscaped for Chaworth House, demolished in the mid-1990s with Chaworth Close built on the site. Amongst the woodland that has grown up, non-native trees, shrubs and bamboo are evidence of the garden that was once here.
For Ether Hill, the free car park at Ottershaw Memorial Fields on Foxhills Road makes a good start. An interpretation board and a leaflet dispenser are clearly visible. Footpaths take the walker up the hill through trees including birch, sweet chestnut and oak.The resinous scent of Scots pine announces the top of the hill, where a couple of benches mark a viewpoint.
This site was heathland in the past and never cultivated as it was too steep, although part was once managed as a plantation. Invasive rhododendron and other non-native species are gradually being cleared.
Ottershaw Chase, off Cross Lane, which runs beside the churchyard, is close to the Timber Hill carpark, with an interpretation board at each end of the circuit. The first access point is between the 18th century former lodges. This was once the driveway to the Ottershaw Park mansion and the broad-leaved woodland was once part of the estate. The trees here include beech, oak and many sweet chestnuts as well as specimen trees including giant redwoods, planted for the estate owners. During the Second World War, army tanks and other vehicles were stored here, where they were camouflaged by the tree canopy. The almost-buried rubble underfoot is the remains of the rough tracks that were laid to enable the movement of vehicles. The circular brick-built pen is the remains of an emergency water supply (one of three in Ottershaw Park), for the military vehicles.
Easily accessible, Ottershaw’s woodlands provide a refreshing escape from the nearby bustle of everyday life.