please empty your brain below

Couldn't wait to log on to see what you made of my lovely home town. It doesn't look too good in the rain I admit, but the open spaces nearby are what makes it living here worthwhile. The windmill is just around the corner from my home so know it well. Someone actually lives in there.
I remember when you could drive through the old tunnel at Reigate. It was one way, from the town towards the station.
There is a large supermarket near priory park which has a cafe.
Of course Reigate's closed for the winter season. Only retail outlets remain open all year!
Gatton Park is worth a walk, and is presumably Redhill. Otherwise I find Redhill a depressing dump!

Regarding the tunnel, I believe it was cut to allow carriages to avoid a dangerous bend where they often overturned. Now that the tunnel is pedestrianised traffic follows the old route - and occasionaly lorries turn over on the dangerous bend. A nice historical joke, I feel.

The facade of the former nightclub which has been saved from demolition, was originally the Odeon cinema, Redhill. It was converted to a night club in the 1970's
Reigate has a rather ace sixth form college ;-)

Redhill though, the Belfry's slowly dying on it's arse.
Reigate caves are interesting especially if you get a guide as entertaining as ours was in September. Told us the phrase 'happy as a sandboy' came from boys taking buckets of sand from the caves to local pubs to use on the floor instead of sawdust and being rewarded with a glass of beer at each one. Having moved here 2 years ago I am very impressed at how much you covered in one day - it has taken us several outings.
Hi Andy

On these district-visiting days out I always try to get round as much as possible in the time available. In this case that meant walking from Kingswood station to Reigate station via Redhill, a distance of 15 miles. I think it was worth it!
Is your 15 mile walk not a sad indication of the paucity of public transport in an out-of-London area?

Not really surprising that people out of urban areas need cars... not many people would be up to walking 15 miles these days (or would be able to do it quickly enough to make it feasible).
Public transport is actually pretty good.

There's a half-hourly bus service from Kingswood to Reigate, and a considerably more frequent service (plus a direct rail connection) between Reigate and Redhill.

I could easily have bussed and trained between my chosen locations, but I'm cheap, and I like walking, and I'd have missed a lot along the way.
One thing you did miss (and I'm surprised) is the old London Country bus garage at Reigate. A real gem, sort of Arts & Crafts-style, and I think the LCBS headquarters; PC can probably confirm. One of those places living elsewhere in London that I had often heard of but never seen until unexpectedly I went past it quite recently (on a bus, in fact). It's now used by a nursery.










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