Oxshott Woods Dog Walks and A Giant Sandpit Surprise

We love discovering new routes for our weekend walkies and London dogs are spoilt with so much to discover both in and very close to London. Recently, we took a trip to Oxshott Heath and Woods, a beautiful 200-acre hidden gem in Surrey, just 40 mins from London on the train and discovered not only miles of woods (as you would expect) but a giant sandpit! When planning our visit we found it quite hard to find info on where the best Oxshott Woods dog walks were so hopefully this post will make it easier for any dogs and their humans planning a visit in the future.

We travelled by car to get to Oxshott Woods but it is easy to get to on public transport – 40 minutes direct from London Waterloo, passing through Clapham Junction, Wimbledon and Surbiton. There are several entrances to Oxshott Woods and fortunately, the train station is right next door to one of them but more on that in a moment.

We discovered that Oxshott Heath and Woods has many sides to it (literally). When we first arrived, we parked in the Sandy Lane car park off Sandy Lane / the A244 (see map at the end of this post). Directly behind this is a dense woodland area which is relatively flat so good for dogs with mobility issues and extremely peaceful – in fact, we didn’t meet anyone else whilst we were there. The tall trees keep things nice and cool for walks on a warm day too.

After exploring the woods for a while (and discovering a woodland wigwam on our walk), we crossed Sandy Lane and went into the woods on the other side of the road.

This side is definitely more hilly although not too hilly and Belinha managed it just fine. We encountered several other dogs out for their weekend stroll and after a while, the paths led naturally to the unexpected highlight of the walk…a giant sandpit!

Turns out the Oxshott woods sandpit is a bit of a local landmark. The sandpit dates back to the 19th century when it was a commercial sandpit and also was used heavily in WWII as a source of sand for sandbags. Today it is a firm favourite for local and visiting dogs and we can see why.

We could have happily spent most of the walk in the sandpit but dragged ourselves away to explore more of the area. Our last stop on our walk was to head up to the war memorial which on a clear day offers fantastic views over Surrey. This area was definitely the busiest on our walk but to put that into perspective, we’re talking a handful of people, not hundreds.  We also started to come across a few cyclists and even some horses as the varied terrain makes for  some interesting rides.

By the end of the walk, we had spent a good couple of hours exploring and we can definitely give Oxshott Woods dog walks a big paws up.

If you’re thinking of adding Oxshott Woods to your weekend walkies list, then here’s what you need to know…

How to Get To Oxshott Heath and Woods

By Public Transport: Take the train from London Waterloo (40 mins) to Oxshott. The entrance to the woods is just outside the station (see the map below).

By Car: There are four car parks at Oxshott woods and it’s certainly do-able to follow a route between them if you have an active dog. That would take in the area and the points mentioned above. However, this would have been too much for an older dog like Belinha so we did some walking and driving between the different spots.

• Station Car Park (sat nav: KT22 0TA) is closest to the station, reasonable in size and the one to head to if you want to start at the War Memorial.
• Sandpit  Car Park (sat nav: KT22 0NT) is closest to the sandpit and the smallest of the car parks so fills up fast.
• Sandy Lane Car Park (sat nav KT22 0NT) is a good size car park directly next to the woodland area and then an easy walk to the sandpit if you walk across Sandy Lane and through the woods.

Other Dog Walks Nearby

There are also plenty of other great walks nearby, the closest being Esher Common which also has the opportunity for dog swimming. We have a detailed blog post with all you need to know about visiting Esher Common, read it here.

A Final (Dog-friendly) Note…

There aren’t any restaurants or cafés directly at the woods so bring water along on the walk for thirsty hounds. After the walk, you can head into Oxshott to one of the dog-friendly pubs nearby. We didn’t have time to do this in the end but had been tossing up between The Victoria (10 minutes walk from the station) and The Bear (15-20 minutes walk from the station), both looked lovely, have gorgeous garden areas and welcome dogs.

FOR MORE DOG-FRIENDLY INSPIRATION, CHECK OUT OUR OTHER DOG-FRIENDLY LONDON FEATURES.