YHA Holmbury St Mary Surrey Hills (Partner)

YHA Holmbury St Mary Surrey Hills first opened on 13th July 1935. Howard Leslie Vicars Lobb, a 26 year-old architect and a member of the newly formed London Regional Council, designed the hostel. With its long low lines, facing east and west, the building was intended to be in harmony with its chosen site, among the broad and gently sloping hills, broken by heavy-laden beech trees, near Dorking in Surrey.

Everything was made for simplicity with men downstairs, women above. Two rooms for 24, in 12 double bunks, were portioned into cubicles of 4 double bunks, to give a sense of privacy. Under each window, between each pair of bunks, built-in lockers could also be used as seats. The lounge, or common room as it was called, opened on a sun terrace with space outside for camping and games. In the common room, with windows on three sides and a low open fire, Prunella Potts painted a cheerful frieze of characters including walkers, cyclists, herself, the architect and the builder.

On 15th July, Lord Allen of Hurtwood, a prominent political figure, officially opened the hostel. The hostel was the south of England’s demonstration hostel. These hostels would be in places "much frequented by visitors or within easy reach of a large population" designed to show people what a well organised hostel was like. Other demonstration hostels were Thorney Howe How, Grasmere, now an independent hostel, the early farmhouse version of Once Brewed (now YHA The Sill at Hadrian's Wall) and the former Oxford Youth Hostel.

Requisitioned and closed for much of the war, YHA Holmbury St Mary reopened in 1946. During its long career as a youth hostel it has been extended twice, its bedrooms have been subdivided, new windows fitted, and a fire escape built. But in essence it remains the hostel Lobb designed, with a well-lit, open social space at its heart.

Lobb's sister, Gwen, managed Holmbury with her husband, Ralph Langford. Lobb designed a second youth hostel at Ewhurst Green and in his later career he designed big public works like the Hunterston A nuclear power station, in Ayrshire, the motorway service areas at Frankley, on the M5, and Leicester Forest, on the M1, and racecourse buildings at Newcastle, Newmarket, Goodwood, and Doncaster.

Hostel manager: This is one of the oldest hostels in the network, celebrating over 80 years of service. The rustic woodland garden and simple but charming hostel is set on the edge of Hurtwood, where you can find 4,000 acres of woodland and all this with London and Brighton around 30 miles from the hostel.

Hurtwood provides fantastic mountain biking, with trails from Holmbury hill and Pitch hill. Locals have named a few, like 'Barry knows better', 'Yoghurt pots', 'T4' and 'Proper bo', there's definitely plenty of cycling that can be done for all abilities. But, if cycling isn't your pursuit, walking to Leith hill and taking in the highest point in Surrey from the tower is definitely worth a trip or if its just shopping that's your bag a quick dash to Dorking or Guildford and a train later you can find yourself in the centre of London... happy hostelling!