mayor Melanie Odell launched the first Haslemere Walking Festival, with best feet forward from Haslewey Community Centre.

Inspired by becoming the first Walkers Are Welcome town in Surrey, free walks were organised over three days, to celebrate and encourage walking in and around historic Haslemere.

Covering varying lengths and catering for all tastes, ages and abilities, they were either easy or difficult, and long and short, but there was something for everyone.

Last Friday, a 15-mile walk over Hindhead Common starting at Haslewey along Lion Lane to Polecat then took in Hindhead, Beacon Hill stopping at Thursley for lunch at the Three Horseshoes before returning via the Devil’s Punch Bowl and Farnham Lane.

Other walks included In Tennyson’s Footsteps, a six-mile circular walk with panoramic views over three counties. Starting opposite The Georgian House Hotel in High Street, the farmland, woodland, and heathland route was led by Haslemere U3A. There was also an introduction to Nordic Walking with The Sportslocker, in Petworth Road; a walk led by Transition Haslemere to introduce people to some of Surrey’s tallest trees, and a bat walk from Imbhams Farm, in Holdfast Lane.

Saturday’s walks included Swan Barn Farm, an hour on Hindhead Common, a history and architecture walk and talk, and a triip around the former Arts and Crafts buildings on Kings Road, Foundry Lane and Longdene Road.

Sunday’s walks took in farms, and the foothills of Hindhead, a look around Shottermill, Sicklemill and Wey Hill, and a visit to see the biggest beech, oldest oak, a Whitebeams climbing tree, and many more on the Blackdown ridge.