It’s right in the London commuter belt and is run by a large brewery but this inn gets top marks for its revamp and is tapping in to a surprisingly diverse clientele
Does anyone go on holiday to Surrey? Probably not. But maybe that’s a good reason to open a hotel there. People everywhere need somewhere to put up unwanted relatives, or wedding guests, right? And there’s the house-hunting London diaspora we keep reading about, who might need some shut-eye while scouting for mansions.
Box Hill, the go-to hillclimb for London cyclists, is the closest thing to a tourist attraction near the newly revamped Running Horses inn in the village of Mickleham. It’s a pleasant spot (if you can ignore the roar of the London Road beneath), with a mildly challenging walk to the top, where there is a good National Trust cafe and shop, and the incongruous Smith & Western wild west-style cafe. I’ve even had a fantastic day’s snowboarding there in winter. Still, it’s a pathetic little mound really, hardly Alpine. You wouldn’t build a hiking weekend around it. But maybe I’m lacking imagination.
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