12 Free Things To Do In Guildford, England

While I was back in the UK recently as part of the 40k To Far Away challenge, I spent several hours exploring Guildford.

Guildford is a town in Surrey in southeast England that’s close to where I grew up. Shae and I also lived there for a couple of years, so I thought it would be fun to go back so I could share with you some of what it has to offer.

I was on a tight budget for the challenge, so needed to find activities that wouldn’t cost anything to do. As a result, here’s a list of 12 free things to do in Guildford, although keep an eye out for a bonus activity that’s not free but is worth doing when visiting Guildford.

I walked to all of these places to cut down on my transportation costs. Starting at Guildford Cathedral and ending at Stoke Park, I walked about 6 miles.

That’s a great way to see more of the town, but you don’t have to walk that far if you don’t want to. If you park in central Guildford, you can walk to most of these places, then drive to the cathedral and Stoke Park that are a little further afield.

To help give you an idea of where everything is located, here’s a map with all of the attractions pinned on there.

In no particular order, here are the 12 free things to do in Guildford.

1) Guildford Castle

Guildford Castle is a bit of a hidden gem. Even though it’s just a short walk from the High Street, it’s not something you can see from there and so it’s easy to not realize it’s there.

The keep of the castle (the main structure you can see in the photo below) is thought to date back to the 1100s…

…while its outer walls are thought to be even older than that, possibly being built before 1100.

It’s free to visit the castle grounds and gardens. From March to October you can pay to go inside the castle’s keep – it’s £3.50 (~$4.50) for adults and £2 (~$2.60) for children over 5 (under 5s are free). The visiting hours are seasonal, so you can find a list of opening hours here.

In my opinion the best time to visit is in the spring or summer as the gardens are well-kept and add a lot of color to the grounds. I visited in October, so it wasn’t quite as beautiful as it can be earlier in the year.

2) High Street

Guildford has an iconic High Street thanks to its cobblestone road, the Guildhall clock and views of the surrounding hillsides.

The High Street is on a fairly steep hill, so be prepared to be a little out of breath after walking up it.

3) Side Streets

Running parallel to High Street is North Street. Between the two streets are several cobblestone alleyways that are home to both chain and boutique stores, so be sure to check those out.

4) Guildford Cathedral

England is home to all kinds of old cathedrals, many of which date back to before 1000. Guildford Cathedral on the other hand is one of England’s newest cathedrals having been completed in 1965.

It was built at the top of Stag Hill so that it could be seen from miles around. If you drive towards Guildford after dark, you can see the cathedral lit up beautifully from far away.

Guildford Cathedral is free to visit, although they do accept donations. Be sure to check out the side rooms as some have exhibits to check out. For example, one has artifacts like silver communion goblets dating back to the 1500s that were used in the Diocese.

5) St Mary’s Church

From the new to the old. St Mary’s Church is the oldest surviving building in Guildford, dating back even further than the castle. Its central tower is thought to have been built in 1050, so before the Battle of Hastings.

Some construction work was being done on the building during my recent visit, but it was still an impressive site being almost 1,000 years old.

6) Guildford Museum

A little further up the street from St Mary’s Church is Guildford Museum. Unfortunately it was closed for construction during my visit, but their website suggests it should be reopening in the coming months.

7) Alice Through The Looking-Glass

Lewis Carroll – author of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass – used to own a home in Guildford. In a garden that overlooks his old home on one side and the castle on the other is an Alice Through The Looking-Glass sculpture.

8) Alice & The White Rabbit

That’s not the only Alice-themed sculpture in Guildford though. If you head down to the River Wey, you can find another Alice-themed sculpture.

The sculpture is called Alice & The White Rabbit due to the creature that Alice is looking at.

9) River Wey

Speaking of the River Wey, walking alongside it can be nice, relaxing and scenic.

10) Millmead Lock

Near the Alice & The White Rabbit sculpture is Millmead Lock. In case you’re not familiar with locks on canals/rivers, they’re used to help narrowboats go up and down hills.

In the photo below, the lock is full. If the narrowboat was to approach the lock from above, they’d enter it and close the gate at the back. They’d then open the front gate which lets the water flow out further downriver, lowering the boat so that it could continue on its journey.

If they were traveling the other way, they’d close the back gate and then open the front gate. The narrowboat would then move into the lock and close the back gate. The top gate would then be reopened, raising the boat so that it could continue heading upriver.

11) Guildford House Gallery

Guildford House Gallery is on the High Street, a little further up from the Guildhall clock and in the same building as the Guildford Tourist Information center.

Despite growing up in the area, I don’t remember ever visiting this attraction but I’m glad I did on my recent visit. Its main exhibits were all about George Abbot who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1600s but who was born and raised in Guildford.

As you can see in the photo above, the exhibition was being held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of him founding a hospital in the town.

It was interesting learning more about him as not only is there a hospital named after him but also a pub and school. Despite knowing the name George Abbot, I’m afraid to say I’d never known who he actually was.

One of the exhibits was a Statute Book he signed in 1629, a book that gave his thoughts and instructions for how he wanted the hospital that bears his name to be run.

12) Stoke Park

Stoke Park is spread out over ~50 acres of land on the northeast side of Guildford.

It’s home to large open playing fields with sports facilities, a paddling pool, skate park, gardens and more.

It’s also home to Guildford Spectrum, a leisure center with sports courts, ice skating, swimming pools and more.

A Bonus Activity

Whenever I’m back in the UK, I like to get scones and clotted cream seeing as you can’t easily get clotted cream in the US. Shae gave me a good tip of where to get this while in Guildford as it’s somewhere she liked to go with one of her friends when we lived there.

At the top of the House of Fraser department store is The Tea Terrace, a fairly fancy-looking tearoom.

One of the best features of The Tea Terrace is its great views of Guildford. In the first photo below, you can see the cathedral at the top of Stag Hill.

I ordered their cream tea which included a couple of scones, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea. They have a variety of scones you can choose from:

• Plain scones
• Fruit scones
• Ginger scones
• Cranberry & white chocolate scones
• Cheese & herb scones
• Apple & cinnamon scones

I was tempted by the apple & cinnamon scones, but was worried I’d be disappointed if they weren’t good, so I played safe with the tried and tested fruit scones.

Question

Those are 12 free things to do in Guildford that I enjoyed (well, other than the museum which was closed), but how about you? If you live in or have visited Guildford, is there anything I’ve missed off the list? Let us know in the comments below.