Buckland Park Lake — Attraction in Mole Valley

I'd read a bit about the park over the last year or so and was intrigued to visit it for myself...

As you drive down the winding road, you are immediately greeted with a sublime and scerenic view of the lake and cliffs...it's stunning (although we did have pleasant, sunny weather which helped).

#Wildlife and Animals There is somewhat some animals around, including ducks and geese. Seeing the ducks fly in the sky, across the lake whilst at the top of the cliff was a delightful sight. The plants and trees are beautiful, which you'll see on your walk around the lake - if you are walking the entire lake, be sure to take a bottle of water, as you'll get thirsty and the café is quite a distance away.

#Playground for kids The play area for the children is good - but it could be a lot better and has so much potential to be expanded, especially since you pay a premium to enter the park. I'd strongly recommend more climbing apparatuses, slides and swings. The sand pit is a nice touch.

We didn't use the lake paddling pool area, but it did look enticing.

#Open Space There is plenty of space to ride your bikes around, kick a ball around, frisbee, catch ball, etc. if you so wish.

#Lake The lake itself is scerenic. But the disappointing part is that there aren't any pedalos or rowing boats. Such a shame, as the lake is incredible in size, so it would not ruin the view for others and would allow for people to really engage and enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the lake.

There are watersports that can be enjoyed, but that has to go through the Surrey Hills Adventure Company (the pedalos and rowing boats would offer people the chance to get out on the water without getting wet).

#Hygiene and Cleanliness This was fantastic, especially for a park.

#Café The café is set at the top of the cliff, overlooking the entire lake. It's also at the end of the walk, which is perfect, as you'll reward yourself for the walk. You can skip the walk if you so wish and go to the café immediately upon your visit, but I'd strongly recommend visiting after your walk - makes it all the more worthwhile and rewarding. The views are splendid - you'll enjoy your time here, as we did.

The choice of food on the menu is 'good' but what they really lack are cakes and desserts - the selection was quite dismal and disappointing. That being said, we had latté's and ice creams and they were absolutely lush - a really good selection of ice cream and the lattés were noticeably tasty. I'd also go as far as to mention that the crockery was lovely and appeasing to the eyes. The staff were warming and friendly.

All in all, I've rated the park 4 out 5 stars. If they could address the above points with regards to children's play area and a better desserts/cake/patisserie selection and the availablity of pedalos and rowing boats, then I'd be scoring it 5 out 5.

Nonetheless, absolutely worth a visit - I really hope that the park is further developed to include the above points mentioned and the entry fee is, I...

This was our first visit to The Reverie, for a Saturday night dinner. We arrived in the absolute pitch black, not a light on anywhere, no illuminated path ways, no indications of where to park. And I watch it being built so I was lucky! Still, other people were also wandering around in total darkness navigating the pathways.

Once indoors, we were however given a warm welcome by their attentive staff, shown to the table and offered drinks and the menu straight away. Service with a smile! Fantastic. Couldn't have asked for more.

The menu was interesting and varied and I even struggled to choose as I could have had it all. This is rare for me at the best of times. I opted for the salmon and guinea fowl which was very good indeed. Excellent cuisine well done.

Service was on the ball too, and everything was served piping hot and in good time.

I do however think that the Management have forgotten that there are no striking views to enjoy during the dark winter evenings so their interior becomes more important when starring out of the window doesn't wash.

Why not speak to a local artist and bring some colour and artwork to the walls? Give the place some character, not the sterile white look with no furnishings.

Fine dining - I think requires table cloths as the tables are only white painted wood. They were cold on your arms.

The music was dreadful, either not loud enough to hear the track, or no thought had gone into a play list, which at one point just sounded like a heart beat, or a party next door. Sort out the music please, it doesn't need to be overly loud, but get some cool vibe going!!

Rather than a log burner in the corner with no fire (winter evening), why not put a few candles inside, and illuminate it! Or get the fire going..... it would be nice to have leather sofa area next to the stove, to sit before being seated or for a whisky after dinner.....having a table for 4 in the darkened corner with the lights out makes little sense.

Dried flowers hanging from the beams and having to duck.....put the dried plants on top of the beam if you like them. But diners don't want to duck to walk under them.

So much can be done to give the place a decent vibe, and some character, but the service and the food was excellent and...

I was really looking forward to visiting here with my son as it looks really child friendly on the website and a good alternative to going to the beach. However I was quite underwhelmed unfortunately. The sandpit and playground whilst nice, they are very small. The sandpit doesn’t have a water source so the children can’t actually build any sand castles. The area that’s described as a children's paddling pool is a continuation of the lake, it isn’t really fit for purpose as it has steep grassy sides which aren’t ideal for small children, there is goose poo everywhere and it’s generally not really an area that’s clean enough for children to play in! I appreciate this is part of the lake so you can’t control the cleanliness of it, but maybe it shouldn’t really then be advertised as a children's paddling pool?! We visited on a weekday and there were are no areas open for refreshments, so on a very hot day this cut our visit short as we ran out of water. I do agree with other reviews that £7 per adult is pricey. There are several other sand quarries in the local area that have been turned into areas of natural beauty that are just as nice to walk around and are free to enjoy. There’s no doubt the walk around the lake is beautiful however because of the reasons above I...