I used to play here when I was a boy - too many years ago to mention - so when we got into Geocaching in Canada earlier in 2004 this place seemed an obvious one to put a cache. These woods are full of yew trees and there is even a pub in the neighbourhood called "The Yew Tree Inn". Lots of walkers in here but the cache is removed from the main path. There is one particular Yew Tree (right beside the path which leads up from the Pilgrims Way track running along the bottom of this part of the hill) that my friends and I used to climb (some of my friends could even get to the top) as kids - the cache is not far from that tree.
People often park at N 51° 15.041', W 000° 12.601' - Underhill Park Road - it says "Private Road" but it is a Public Right of Way
The cache itself is a plastic "tupperware" container with a couple of travel bugs in it to start it off as well as a number of trading items from Canada. Since I now live 3500 miles away the cache will be maintained for me by a local cacher.
Terrain is *** because the side of this hill is very steep. In very wet weather or when there are lots of stinging nettles it might need an extra half star.
If you walk/scramble further on towards the west and explore this hill you will find the remains of the old lime quarries that were closed in the early 1900s. You might even find some artefacts if you go hunting in the brush - we used to have lots of fun hunting for them as kids.
You might also be lucky enough to spot some very large snails. These are Roman Snails and this is one of the very few places in Great Britain where they are found. Legend (probably untrue) has it that they were brought to these islands by the Romans 2000 years ago. Please leave them alone and just enjoy looking at them if you spot one - take a photo if you like and post it here.
2005-06-04 - Cache replaced with an ice cream box wrapped in a green plastic bag in the original location since the original box went missing.
People, people - please put it back where you find it - if you do then it should be very safe and not go missing again - Thanks