Guildford is a handsome town on the River Wey in Surrey, about 30 minutes by train from London Waterloo. The steep cobbled High Street, lined with shops and pubs and presided over by the gilded clock of the Guildhall, is one of the most attractive in the region.
The town's most unusual feature is Guildford Cathedral, built between 1936 and 1961. It is the only Anglican cathedral built on a new site in southern England since the Reformation, and its simple brick exterior is unexpectedly striking on its hilltop perch above the University of Surrey campus.
The ruins of Guildford Castle in the town centre sit in pleasant gardens with views over the surrounding countryside. The castle keep dates from the twelfth century and you can climb to the top for a panorama of the town and the North Downs beyond. The Guildford Museum next door covers the town's longer history; under one of the High Street shops are the foundations of what may be the oldest synagogue in Britain.
Guildford has an unexpectedly strong Lewis Carroll connection. The author of Alice in Wonderland spent his last years at his sisters' house The Chestnuts on Castle Hill, died in Guildford in 1898, and is buried in The Mount Cemetery on the hill west of town.
Guildford is well placed for walking on the North Downs Way and exploring the Surrey Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The River Wey Navigation, one of the oldest man-made waterways in England, offers towpath walks south towards Godalming.