Newdigate Brickworks

The industrial skeleton of Newdigate Brickworks sits just outside Dorking like a time capsule from Victorian Surrey. What you're looking at is a genuine working brick factory that operated for over a century, now abandoned and slowly being reclaimed by overgrown gardens and creeping ivy. The kilns, sheds, and clay pits tell the story of how this corner of Surrey fed the building boom of London and beyond.

It's a proper magnet for industrial archaeologists and photographers - the kind of place where you can actually picture the clang and dust of production. The ruins themselves are atmospheric without being eerie, and you can wander the site and see the scale of the operation: the brick stacks, the remains of machinery, the channels that once carried clay. Kids might find it interesting for thirty minutes or so, but this isn't a place with interactive exhibits or much explanation on the ground.

Walkers heading through the area will appreciate it as a worthwhile detour - it breaks up a longer route nicely. If you're staying at The Green Escape glamping site nearby, it's close enough for a morning explore before heading elsewhere. The real appeal is in what it represents rather than any dramatic landscape. You don't need more than an hour here, and there's no entry fee as far as I can tell - you're simply wandering the grounds. Best visited on a dry day, mind. After rain, the paths can get muddy and the brick dust gets slippery.