Dorking (Great Britain)

In the county of Surrey, about 40 km south of London, is the market town Dorking with around 17,000 inhabitants. Embedded in the lovely landscape of Mole Valley with Box Hill, it is the local recreation area for Londoners. Dorking is home to a small theater, a local history museum and supposedly 36 pubs! In West Street, but also in St. Martin's Walk Shopping Center, there are nice little shops, cafes, restaurants, quite a few Antique shops and a museum that invite you to stroll through Dorking.

Due to a well-developed network of public transport, you can quickly reach the metropolis of London by train, but also e. g. Brighton or Southampton. Polesden Lacey mansion, the beautiful gardens in Wisley or the Brooklands Automobile Museum in Woking are worth visiting in the vicinity.

With a view on the limestone cliffs of the North Downs, Denbies winery grows vines on 103 hectares and produces annually around 400,000 bottles of white and red wine as well as sparkling wine. Denbies is thus the largest wine growing vineyard in England. In terms of time, viticulture - just like the founding of Dorking - goes back to Roman times, a fact that connects our English twin town with Güglingen also from a historical point of view.

The city also has celebrities such as the famous actor Sir Laurence Olivier, who was born in Dorking, and the famous admiral Lord Nelson, who lived in Dorking before he went to the great battle of Trafalgar. William Mullins - also a son of the town - crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620 as one of the Pilgrim Fathers with the Mayflower to settle in Virginia.

By the way: Dorking's mascot is the well-known breed of chicken of the same name, which has five toes instead of four as a special feature.