Tag: Godalming

Thursday doors – 31 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming

Doors 318 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part IV)

Rather remarkably, I have remembered that Dan is taking a Thursday Doors holiday this week, but I have decided to press ahead with this week’s selection as I have a little bit of time (last night in fact) to write this post and I might as well make hay while the sun shines.

This is the fourth and penultimate selection of doors from Godalming in Surrey, photographed on a work trip overnight stay. This week’s doors are mostly from the High Street running through the centre of the town. Enjoy.

Beautiful timber frame building with Specsavers shopfront and dull grey door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Beautiful timber frame building with Specsavers shopfront and dull grey door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Timber frame house and wonky black door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Timber frame house and wonky black door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Wonky black door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Wonky black door, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Tudor archway, Crown Court, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Tudor archway, Crown Court, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Yard double door and archway dated 1836, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Yard double door and archway dated 1836, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Grand entrance to The King's Arms and Royal Hotel, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Grand entrance to The King’s Arms and Royal Hotel, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
A roof door at The King's Arms and Royal Hotel, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
A roof door at The King’s Arms and Royal Hotel, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Classic door with porch and twin trees, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Classic door with porch and twin trees, High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Godalming High Street, like so many other high streets in English towns, is stuffed full of little gems and wonderful history, heritage and architecture. It is all too easy to keep your head down and not look at what is around you. Having an interest in doors acts like a portal (no pun intended) into this world of curiosity of your surroundings, and it has certainly prompted me to look at the places where I happen to be through a different lens. One more selection and then I move on to another place. See you next time.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 24 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming

Doors 317 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part III)

A quick one this morning as I haven’t left myself much time to write. This is the third selection of doors from Godalming, a small town in deepest Surrey, a place that on the face of it is reasonably affluent, and definitely has some lovely buildings dotted about the place. I hope you enjoy these doors:

Blue door and high chimney stacks, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Blue door and high chimney stacks, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Yellow door, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Yellow door, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Blue door and covered passage, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Blue door and covered passage, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Door with large hinges to St Peter and St Parl's church, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Door with large hinges to St Peter and St Parl’s church, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
A pair of inset doors, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
A pair of inset doors, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
A rather nice blue door with fanlight and lamp, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
A rather nice blue door with fanlight and lamp, Church Street, Godalming, March 2025
Unusual wide and low door, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
Unusual wide and low door, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
A classy old studded door, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
A classy old studded door, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
Shopfronts and doors in the early evening, but it is those windows that are really special, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
Shopfronts and doors in the early evening, but it is those windows that are really special, High Street, Godalming, March 2025

I rather like this selection of doors and the range of periods, but that last building is a beauty in my view. Here is an excerpt from a website called Geograph, about the building:

Godalming High Street: Nos. 74-76
I was puzzled by this building. A date-stone says 1663, but at first glance I thought that unlikely – probably because I was taken in by the honeycomb glazing bars.

Later, dipping into the Surrey volume of ‘The Buildings of England’ I found Ian Nairn having one of his rants: ‘Nos. 74-76 . . . coming right at the end of the C17 Artisan tradition of brickwork in Surrey, and a deplorable end too . . . All sense of proportion, and even of picturesque outline, is gone’. He makes the useful point that the window design is of 18th century origin – lifted from one of Batty Langley’s pattern books.

Nairn goes on to concede that (along with No. 80, somewhat similar) Nos. 74-76 are ‘good fun to have in a town’ – even if they lack architectural merit. My own view would be that brick-built structures dating from the 1660s are pretty rare in a small-town context, and we should be grateful for those that survive.
 
So That’s it for this week, more to come from Godalming next time.
 

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 17 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming

Doors 316 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part II)

I am writing this all in a bit of a hurry last night, because today I’ll be travelling to Eastbourne to run a workshop for a large nature partnership. Expect to see some doors of Eastbourne some time in the future.

Today’s doors are the second helping from Godalming, a small town in Surrey bristling with character and heritage, which I visited on a similar work trip back in March this year. If nothing else, my work rewards me with opportunities to go to parts of the country I’d perhaps have never thought of going to, and Godalming is probably one of those.

I took these pictures in the evening I arrived and early in the morning before my workshop started, it is a routine I have mastered over the last year or two. I hope you enjoy these doors and some of the timber frame architecture.

Black door on High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Black door on High Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Black door and attractive surround, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Black door and attractive surround, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Door to The Pepperpot (formerly the town hall), Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Door to The Pepperpot (formerly the town hall), Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Inner door to The Pepperpot (formerly the town hall), Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Inner door to The Pepperpot (formerly the town hall), Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Door and shopfront to Pavilion (no more), Black door and attractive surround, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Door and shopfront to Pavilion (no more), Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Sealed door and shopfront to Pavilion (no more), Black door and attractive surround, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Sealed door and shopfront to Pavilion (no more), Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Green door to a timber frame house, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Green door to a timber frame house, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Blue door and accountant shopfront, Mint Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Blue door and accountant shopfront, Mint Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

Two doors, brick and stone ground floor and timber frame building, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Two doors, brick and stone ground floor and timber frame building, Church Street, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

That’s enough Surrey culture for the time being. More to come next time. May I wish you all a very happy weekend.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 10 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming

Doors 315 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

It sounds like an interesting place, Godalming, but I had never visited until earlier this year, and as it turns out, it is a lovely, small, Surrey town. I was there with work for a partnership workshop I was leading, preparing for a celebration event for England’s newest National Nature Reserve, called Wealden Heaths. Sadly I never got to go to the celebration event itself, but I am told it was a perfect day, and we generated plenty of local and national coverage. Job done.

The town is very much centred around a single main street, called High Street, which is home to a wonderful array of timber-framed shops and houses in a Surrey style, quite different to those I have encountered in other parts of the country. This first set of doors are found on the route from the station to the High Street. I hope you enjoy this first of three or four collections from Godalming.

Station building and black door, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Station building and black door, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Ghost door on the station building, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Ghost door on the station building, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Surrey Place (not so) luxury office suites, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Surrey Place (not so) luxury office suites, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Front door to Surrey Place (not so) luxury office suites, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Front door to Surrey Place (not so) luxury office suites, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Timber framed house and door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Timber framed house and door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Small cottage and gabled front door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Small cottage and gabled front door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

 

Beautiful surrey timber framed cottage and front door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
Beautiful surrey timber framed cottage and front door, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, March 2025

More to come from this rather pretty town next time, and perhaps for the next couple of times after that. Meanwhile, I am basking in the brilliant and unusually wonderful summer sunshine we are having in Bristol, with little sign of rain for more than a week.

That’s it for another week. I prepared this post in advance, and I am publishing it very early (UK time) on Thursday, because when I did this by mistake a few weeks ago, I had far more views than I would normally expect. I am testing the idea once again, but this time deliberately, to see if that was an anomaly or a real effect.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

Thursday Doors

6820. High Street, Godalming

Hendog, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
Hendog, High Street, Godalming, March 2025

Part of my work involves a bit of travel around the country supporting the establishment of new National Nature Reserves. I took a trip last month to Godalming in Surrey, where I was running a partnership workshop. Naturally I took the opportunity to wander round town in the evening and early in the morning to photograph the architecture, and doors in particular. I was not expecting to find any street art (it is not that kind of place), but my in-build radar and trained eye brought me to this piece by Hendog, lurking behind some bins. I think it might be the only piece of street art in town.

Hendog, High Street, Godalming, March 2025
Hendog, High Street, Godalming, March 2025

Hendog is a stencil artist, who seems to paint around the south-east area of England, from what I could make out, and I haven’t come across before, although I think he might have a piece in Bristol which I will need to hunt down.

There are hints or references to Banksy’s famous ‘mild, mild west’ piece as he features an urban teddy bear up to a bit of mischief with a traffic cone on his head and a beer bottle in each hand. The stencil work has plenty of depth, aided by the clever shadow work. I have no idea what the locals think of it, but it has been there for a while, so I imagine they might be quite fond of it. A pleasurable and unexpected find.

On tour again

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Next destination

Godalming town in Surrey

overnighter looms

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by Scooj

Wedding

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No church bells ring here

joined in civil partnership

their happiest day. 

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by Scooj