Surrey

Map of the Surrey Area

Surrey is located in the South East of the UK and is considered to be one of the Home Counties. It is bordered by Kent, East Sussex, Greater London, West Sussex, Berkshire and Hampshire. Surrey County Council is based at Kingston upon Thames (however this has been a part of Greater London since 1965) and the historic county town is Guildford (source: "Medieval Guildford-"Henry III confirmed Guildford's status as the county town of Surrey in 1257"". Guildford Borough Council. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.). The population of the county is about 1.1 million (source: link) with a density of 1683 people per square mile. Surrey covers and area of 642 square miles and it is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county.

Surrey is the most wooded county in the UK, with almost 22.4% of the county being covered by woodland compared the English average of 11.8% (source: "Surrey's woodlands". Surrey County Council. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.). Surrey has many notable beauty spots including Leith Hill, Newland's Corner and Frensham Ponds. The county is also home to England's oldest untouched area of natural woodland, Box Hill, which also one of the oldest natural woodland in the whole of Europe.

Much of the area in Surrey is part of the Green Belt and the geology of the county is spanned with the chalk hills of the North Downs. Surrey is not agriculturally focused and there are many access lands and commons which provide for many rural activities. The county has a very large horse population. The highest elevation point in the county is on Leith Hill which is near Dorking and is at 294 metres above sea level.

Surreys' economy is service based and closely tied to London's economy. It is prosperous and has the highest GDP per capita of all of the counties in England and also the highest cost of living of any county outside of London (source: link).

Surrey has many places of interest including the Devil's Punch Bowl at Hindhead and Frensham Common. The National Trust runs Whitley Common; and Surrey Hills is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The River Wey links the region to the area and it is home to Alton Towers sister theme park, Thorpe Park. Surrey is also the setting for some famous literary characters. It is the backdrop to H.G Wells' novel The War of The Worlds and there are tribute sculptures to the book in Woking. The county was also mentioned in the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.