Guildford Walkfest is Coming – Here’s What’s on Offer

Published on: 14 Aug, 2025
Updated on: 15 Aug, 2025

September will soon be here and with it the 19th Guildford Walkfest – with walks for all ages and abilities in and around the surrounding countryside and the town centre.

There are 37 walks to choose from at this year’s festival, hosted by a wide range of community organisations, societies, walking groups, as well as individual volunteers.

All are great fun, they’re are very sociable, you can go with friends or go to make friends, and the walks come with health benefits galore!

Christine Howard with Keith Chesterton on a Guildford Ramblers’ walk.

The festival begins on Monday, September 1, with the festival’s launch and walk hosted by the chairman of Guildford Walkfest and president of Surrey Hills Society, Christine Howard, who will be joined by the Mayor of Guildford, Howard Smith.

The launch will take place just before 10.30am at the Percy Arms pub in Chilworth, followed by a short stroll through the nearby Gunpowder Mills site, led by Ken Bare who is the co-ordinator of Guildford Walkfest. All welcome.

A taster of some of the walks on offer are….

Walk leaders from Guildford Health Walks getting ready for a stroll with their Walkfest tabards on.

Wednesday, September 3: Exploring Shalford with Guildford Health Walks, along the River Wey, Shalford Park, Shalford Mill and the lower Chantries. All year round and every weekday it offers a morning health walk, saying: “Walking makes you happy and keeps you healthy”.

A previous Guildford Walkfest walk bird watching.

Wednesday, September 10: a walk called Bird Tweets, led by John Cattermole, which will be a gentle, short walk around Unstead Nature Reserve to observe birds and identify their song.

One of a number of walks hosted by the Surrey Hills Society will be on Friday, September 12, and it’s a long one – 14 miles along the North Downs from Guildford to Dorking.

A previous walkfest walk in the Surrey Hills.

It promises wonderful and varied scenery plus the distant vistas from various viewpoints and makes a fitting highlight of the 2025 Guildford Walkfest.

Much of the route is on footpaths and bridleways along the chalk of the North Downs.

The walk leaders have walked this route on numerous occasions and are “North Downs Way Ambassadors” so you can expect to learn numerous snippets of information as walkers can stop periodically to catch their breath, enjoy the views and investigate the surroundings.

A Surrey Hills Society walk in woodland at Shere.

The Surrey Hills Society is an independent charity promoting the positive enjoyment and care of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for those who live, work in, or visit the area. The society encourages people to explore and learn about the special qualities and distinctiveness of the area.

Saturday, September 13: local historian David Rose teams up with the National Trust River Wey Navigations at Dapdune Wharf for a circular walk that will follow the navigation down stream to Stoke Lock, over to the Riverside Nature Reserve, along the natural River Wey backwater, across Stoke Park and back.

David Rose leading a previous walk for Walkfest.

David will give details of the navigation’s history, pointing out the wildlife at the nature reserve’s Stoke Lake and points of interest about Stoke Park (bought by Guildford corporation 100 years ago) including existing wartime defences and other stories.

The Muddy Boots group hosting a baby buggies walk on Whitmoor Common.

Monday, September 15: Muddy Boots is a friendly walking group that meets on Mondays at QEP Centre in Stoughton for walks over the nearby Whitmoor Common. These are enjoyable easy, flat walks.

Wednesday, September 17: Clive Woodland will lead a mostly flat walk along the Wey Navigation towpath and on woodland, meadow and lakeside paths through the village of Send.

Friday, September 19: Zero Carbon Guildford has a walk by the river in Guildford town centre.

It says: “We’ll meet at the bridge for a short introduction to bats covering: what they are, what they do, why they are amazing and how we can help them out. Then we’ll take a short walk down the river, hoping to see some bats flying around. We’ll have some bat detectors with us which we’ll pass around so everyone will be able to hear the bats doing their echolocation calls.”

Zero Carbon Guildford’s objective is to help the borough of Guildford reach carbon neutrality by 2030, through the development of a community-led climate action plan.

Saturday, September 20: Surrey Young Walkers invite you on an 11-mile circular walk from Ash, taking in the countryside of Ash Green, Tongham, over the Hog’s Back to Seale, along the North Downs Way to Puttenham, and then back via Wanborough and Christmas Pie.

Sunday, September 21: The Wey & Arun Canal Society is hosting a circular walk titled How Railways Killed A Canal. It features the northernmost section of the former canal and the railways (defunct or still operating) which took the canal’s trade.

Friday, September 26: a one-hour mindfulness walk by Dose of Nature – a charity that promotes the mental health benefits of engaging with the natural world, and which has its Guildford base at Dapdune Wharf..

One of the Guildford Town Guides leads a walk in the Castle Grounds.

Throughout Walkfest volunteers from the Guildford Town Guides will be on hand leading six walks on subjects including Georgian Guildford, royalty, and pubs and inns.

The Guildford Ramblers offers: The Chantries Circular on Monday, September 22, and a Puttenham walk on Wednesday, September 24, featuring the village itself, fields and woodland.

While ne of the The Guildford Rambling Club’s walks is a circular on Sunday, September 28. It goes along the Horsley Jubilee Trail, taking in some of the famous Lovelace bridges and stunning Horsley Towers.

Click here for details of all walks, how to book, and so on, on Guildford Walkfest’s website.

Also, click on its blog page.

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