Things to Do in Woking: 12 Days Out Checked August 2026

Woking’s best day out is the spot where the Martians landed. H G Wells wrote The War of the Worlds while living in the town and put the first cylinder down in the sandpit on Horsell Common, which you can walk into for free any day of the year. Around that anchor, the borough offers a proper contemporary gallery, a major touring theatre, a leisure-pool complex with waves and flumes, the UK’s largest cemetery, and one of the world’s great gardens on its doorstep. This guide covers what is genuinely worth your time, with prices and opening details checked this August. Two changes worth knowing up front: the New Victoria Theatre has been renamed Woking Theatre, and the borough’s pools and leisure centre have changed operator from Freedom Leisure to Everyone Active, so old booking links may mislead you.

Horsell Common: the Martian landing site

Start here. The sandpits at the centre of Horsell Common are “the landing place of the Martians in H G Wells’ ‘War of the Worlds’”, as Surrey County Council’s walking guide puts it, and they are genuinely atmospheric: steep sandy banks, exposed tree roots and heathland silence ten minutes from the town centre. The circular walk from the Shores Road car park is “wide and generally level with no steep gradients, suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs”, with blue badge parking off Shores Road, though no toilets (Surrey County Council). The common is open access and free, managed by the Horsell Common Preservation Society. It is the closest thing Surrey has to a literary pilgrimage you can do in wellies.

The Lightbox: the gallery worth the ticket

On Chobham Road beside the canal, The Lightbox is the town’s award-winning gallery and museum. Through to 1 November 2026 the headline show is Philip Colbert: The Lost Gardens of Lobsteropolis. The ground floor, including Woking’s Story museum, café and shop, is free; the two upper gallery floors take a Day Pass at £14.50, with under 18s free, and every Wednesday 10.30am to 12.30pm is “pay what you wish” for all gallery spaces. Open Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays (The Lightbox).

Woking Theatre: the renamed New Victoria

The 1992-built touring house in the town centre, ATG’s first acquired venue, was known as the New Victoria Theatre until April 2026, when it relaunched as Woking Theatre with a new identity (Woking News & Mail). The autumn 2026 programme is big-tour standard: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (22 to 26 September), Paranormal Activity (6 to 10 October), Six the musical (20 to 24 October) and Burlesque The Musical (3 to 7 November), with the smaller Rhoda McGaw Theatre and Nova Cinema alongside (Woking Theatre listings).

Pool in the Park and the leisure centre

Woking Park holds the borough’s two big indoor venues, both run by Everyone Active since the 2026 operator change (Freedom Leisure’s handover notice):

• Pool in the Park has a 25-metre six-lane main pool, a teaching pool and a leisure lagoon with waves, water features and flumes, plus a poolside sauna. Open from 6am weekdays; note the rolling changing-room repairs (Everyone Active).
• Woking Leisure Centre next door carries a 120-station gym, a ten-court sports hall, five squash courts, 3G pitches, and for children a soft play area and the Air-X inflatable obstacle course. Open 6am to 10pm weekdays (Everyone Active).

Superbowl at Victoria Place: the wet-day banker

In the town centre, Woking Superbowl at 1 Henry Plaza fills the wet-day slot: bowling from £6 a game, a laser quest arena (summer offer £7.50 a game, two for £12), arcade and air hockey, open from midday on weekdays and 10am at weekends and in the school holidays. A Summer Holiday Special runs to 20 September 2026: two games and a drink for £14.95 adults, £12.95 juniors (Woking Superbowl). It is five minutes’ walk from the station, with the 24-hour Victoria Place Red car park beside it.

Brookwood Cemetery: the strangest great day out in Surrey

West of town, Brookwood Cemetery is “the largest cemetery in the UK”, established in 1852 by the London Necropolis Company, which once ran funeral trains here from its own station at Waterloo. It is a Grade I listed park, open daily for visitors to explore, with military sections including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission plots and the American military cemetery (Brookwood Cemetery). Treat it as a landscape and history walk rather than a picnic spot; dogs are not admitted.

Mizens Railway: Sundays behind a miniature steam engine

At Barrs Lane in Knaphill, the Woking Miniature Railway Society runs Mizens Railway, a volunteer 7¼-inch gauge line through 10 acres of parkland. In 2026 it runs Sundays 2pm to 5pm until the end of September, plus school-holiday Thursdays on 13, 20 and 27 August, 1pm to 4pm, with an autumn gala and Santa specials later in the year (Steam Heritage listing; Visit Surrey). The society’s own website was unreachable when we checked, so confirm the day’s running before a special journey.

RHS Garden Wisley: hours, prices and the world-class garden next door

The Royal Horticultural Society’s flagship garden carries a Woking address, ten minutes from town via the A245 or a bus from the station.

Wisley opening hours

The garden opens daily except Christmas Day. Weekdays it is 10am to 6pm, and at weekends it opens an hour earlier, at 9am. Either way the gate shuts to new arrivals at 5pm, so the last entry is an hour before closing and turning up at half four is cutting it fine for a garden this size.

There is no separate winter timetable. Plenty of large gardens drop to a 4pm close once the clocks go back, and people assume Wisley does the same. Rechecked against the RHS on 4 September 2026, it does not: the society publishes one year-round schedule, 10am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 6pm at weekends, with last entry at 5pm, and no seasonal variation alongside it (RHS). In practice the light beats the gate long before December, so an afternoon arrival in midwinter buys you far less garden than the same arrival in June, but the published hours do not change.

The Wisley Flower Show, 1 to 6 September 2026, does not change them either. The RHS lists no extended or late opening for the show week, so the garden runs its normal hours throughout (RHS).

The buildings shut long before the gate does

The single thing that catches people out is that the garden’s headline 6pm closing is the gate, not the attractions. The Glasshouse stops letting anyone in at 3.30pm, more than two hours before the garden closes, and hot food stops at 3pm almost everywhere on site.

The Glasshouse, Hilltop and the Old Laboratory are all included in garden admission, so there is nothing extra to pay, only a clock to beat. The garden centre keeps its own hours and its own phone line (01483 212415, against 01483 224234 for the garden), and on Monday to Saturday it opens an hour before the garden does.

What it costs

Wisley prices by date rather than by a single rate, and booking online beats paying at the gate by several pounds every time.

Children aged 5 to 16 pay £6, under 5s are free, and RHS members go free and do not need to book. Two cheaper routes in are easy to miss. Arriving by bus, train, bike or on foot cuts the adult ticket to £14.40, a 30% car-free discount, and you show proof of how you travelled when you buy on arrival. Anyone receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit or Employment and Support Allowance gets in for £1, and so do up to five people in their party, on production of proof at the gate (RHS). A carer or companion comes in free with a wheelchair user or a visually impaired visitor. The Wisley Flower Show runs 1 to 6 September 2026 (RHS), which is the busiest week of the year here, so a weekday 10am arrival is worth the early start. Note the M25 junction 10 works beside it still bring overnight closures on the A3 this August.

The quick table

Getting there and making a day of it

Most of the list works without a car: The Lightbox, Woking Theatre and Superbowl are minutes from the station, Brookwood Cemetery has its own station one stop away, and Horsell Common is a walk across the canal from the town centre. Coming from London, the fastest trains take 24 minutes; times, fares and the stations are in our Woking trains guide. Drivers should check roadworks and travel first while the A320 works and M25 junction 10 closures run, and compare the town’s car parks in parking in Woking. Driving to Wisley has changed: a new bridge is open, so anyone who used to turn off the A3 onto Wisley Lane now leaves at Ockham Park roundabout and follows the new signs over the A3 to the same entrance (RHS).

Frequently asked questions

What can you do in Woking for free?

The Horsell Common sandpit and its heathland walks, Brookwood Cemetery’s landscape and military history, The Lightbox’s ground-floor museum, and the borough’s parks. The Lightbox’s paid galleries also run pay-what-you-wish on Wednesday mornings.

Where did the Martians land in The War of the Worlds?

In the sandpit on Horsell Common, north of Woking town centre. H G Wells lived in Maybury and set the novel’s opening there; the circular walk from Shores Road car park reaches it on a level, pushchair-friendly path (Surrey County Council).

Is the New Victoria Theatre still called that?

No. It was renamed Woking Theatre in April 2026 as part of ATG’s relaunch of the town’s venues; same building and stage, new name (Woking News & Mail).

Does Woking have a swimming pool with flumes?

Yes: Pool in the Park in Woking Park has a leisure lagoon with waves and flumes alongside its 25-metre pool, now run by Everyone Active (Everyone Active).

What are RHS Wisley’s opening hours?

10am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm at weekends, every day except Christmas Day, with last entry at 5pm. The garden centre keeps separate hours that vary through the year (RHS).

Does RHS Wisley have shorter opening hours in winter?

No. Rechecked on 4 September 2026, the RHS publishes a single set of hours for the whole year, 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm at weekends with last entry at 5pm, and no winter timetable alongside it. Christmas Day is the only closure (RHS).

What time does the Glasshouse at Wisley close?

Earlier than the garden. The Glasshouse runs 10am to 3.45pm daily with last entry at 3.30pm, so it shuts to new arrivals two and a half hours before the garden gate does. RHS Hilltop closes at 5.45pm with last entry 4.45pm, and the Old Laboratory at 5pm with last entry 4.30pm. All three are included in garden admission (RHS).

What are the RHS Wisley garden centre opening hours?

The garden centre is open 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, bank holidays included, and 11am to 5pm on Sunday with browsing from 10.30am. It closes on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Those are not the garden’s hours: Monday to Saturday the centre opens an hour before the garden does.

What time does food stop being served at Wisley?

Hot food finishes at 3pm at the Wisley Cafe, the Food Hall, the World Food Cafe and the Glasshouse Kitchen. The Terrace Restaurant serves lunch 11.30am to 2.30pm and afternoon tea 3pm to 4pm. The Stone Pine Cafe only opens at weekends and in school holidays, 10.30am to 4pm.

Is RHS Wisley in Woking?

Its address is Woking (GU23 6QB) and it sits just east of the borough by M25 junction 10. Booked off-peak adult entry starts at £17.20 and children aged 5 to 16 pay £6 (RHS).

What is there for toddlers in Woking?

The teaching pool and lagoon at Pool in the Park, soft play and the Air-X course at Woking Leisure Centre, a Mizens Railway Sunday afternoon, and the pushchair-friendly sandpit walk on Horsell Common.

Sources

• Surrey County Council: Horsell Common easy walk (sandpit, access, parking)
• The Lightbox: visit us (prices, hours) and current exhibitions
• Woking Theatre at ATG Tickets (programme) and Woking News & Mail (April 2026 renaming)
• Everyone Active: Pool in the Park and Woking Leisure Centre; Freedom Leisure handover notice (operator change)
• Woking Superbowl (prices, hours, summer offer)
• Brookwood Cemetery (history, visiting)
• Steam Heritage: Mizens Railway and Visit Surrey (2026 running days)
• RHS Garden Wisley (hours, prices, flower show) and plan your visit (Glasshouse, Hilltop, garden centre and food outlet hours, the £1 and car-free tickets, the new bridge)

Opening times and prices change, and operators change more often than you would think. Check the venue’s own site before a special journey. Checked against the sources above on 7 August 2026, and the Wisley entries rechecked on 26 August 2026.