We’re truly spoiled having so many National Trust sites to visit, not just the abundance we have in Surrey but in nearby London, Hampshire and Sussex. With the school holidays fast approaching, we’ll no doubt be ticking a few more National Trust places we’ve not explored off the list. We do enjoy returning to our favourites too and the beautiful Frensham Little Pond is certainly one of those.
The National Trust describes Frensham Little Pond as a medieval bishops’ fish pond, set in a tranquil wildlife haven, amid precious heathland. It was originally created in the 13th century as a means of supplying fish to the Bishop of Winchester and his court while visiting Farnham Castle. These days it’s a sanctuary for wildlife, the tranquil surroundings an ideal place to blow away a few cobwebs.
On our most recent visit, we decided to head up a sandy bank from the car park rather than take the usual path through the woods. Purely because we’ve seen people do it before and we wondered where it ended up. It was steeper than we anticipated although POD sped up it – the benefit being we got to run down the other side. Of course, ending up in the woods not far from where we would normally walk! It was great fun and while there’s no need to do it again, it satisfied years of curiousity!
There’s an abundance of wildlife at Frensham what with the reeds surrounding the Little Pond, the sand and the woodland surrounding it. There are common and rare birds to be spotted with damselflies and dragonsflies to be seen during the summer. We saw a grass snake in the water there once, several years ago mind and we’ve not seen once since. We did make some new friends while we were there though.
It was one of those mornings which alternated between sunshine and rain (we had our waterproofs but of course forgot the umbrellas) but the trees made for a great shelter when the inevitable downpour arrived. Luckily for us it meant we could listen to the wildlife and see what we could spot.
Frensham Little Pond is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area and an Area of Conservation. As such it has a variety of rare and endangered wildlife which thrive in the natural habitats. Although much is sandy heathland, there is a mosaic of habitats including dry and wet heath, ponds and woodland. Even up to the early twentieth century, local people used to graze their animals here.
The walk around the Little Pond doesn’t take long so we’d definitely recommend it – lots to see along the way including the fabulous boardwalk. The sun shone for us too which was just lovely and we just made it to the cafe for coffee and hot chocolate before those impressive dark clouds were above us. There are a couple of bird hides, one of which by the cafe, so we got to watch a bird diving for fish while we were there too. What an absolute treat that was.
