This neighbourhood area is bounded by Old Coulsdon and Whyteleafe, and incorporates the Western part of Caterham and the picturesque village of Chaldon - home to the Church Green conservation area, which boasts several listed residences and farm outbuildings. In the heart of the North Downs, this area offers rural charm combined with easy connections to central London and the Southeast. Incorporating Westway Common, the northern part of Queen’s Park and Surrey National Golf Club, this area punches above its weight in terms of recreational and green spaces. The Arc, part of the Caterham Barracks Community Trust charity, specialises in providing ‘high quality arts, entertainment, and recreation for the benefit of those with the quietest voices, especially the young and those with disabilities’, while The New Caterham Arms and The Fleeting Brook are both popular pubs serving decent food. Parents will also be spoilt for choice with schools, particularly primaries, in this neighbourhood area.

The history of the area dates back to the Norman Conquest. The ancient church of St. Lawrence is believed to date from AD 1095, although this is partly guesswork based on the Norman window. This is relatively youthful compared to the Neolithic flints that have been found at White Hall, on the borders of Chaldon and Caterham. Suffice to say, this area is steeped in archaeological history.

Actor Bill Nighy, of Love Actually and Pirates of the Caribbean fame, attended St. Francis Catholic Primary School on Whyteleafe Road. Dave Prowse, more commonly known as Darth Vader, once visited the Ridge Road Studios.

The ‘Caterham Umbrella Tree’, a Cedar standing on Church Road, near the intersection with the High Street is estimated to be about 250 years old! Local folklore has it that if you talk underneath this tree a curse will befall you…

There is no train station in this neighbourhood area itself, which commuters might find frustrating. However, there are three in neighbouring Whyteleafe, and the area is uniquely convenient in other ways – it has a great choice of schools, a local hospital and all the trappings of both suburban and rural charm. Juliet, a florist at The Flower Pocket on the High Street said she likes Caterham because: ‘there’s lots of nice little independent shops and it has a village-y feel’.

Oakgrove is a recent development of family housing from Berkeley homes, near Westway Common; while Chaldon Mead is an upmarket new development of detached 5-bedroom houses in plot sizes up to 1.5 acres at the other end of the neighbourhood area. Most recently, a proposal was submitted to Tandridge Council for a 140-home development on the site of a former quarry in nearby Godstone, but aside from that, new development in the area is rare. Developers seem to be more focused on Coulsdon Town Centre and, only a bit further away, on Purley. That said, only time will tell if new developments in those areas will spill over to places like Caterham and Chaldon.