Guildford is a fair sized town located in Surrey, England, outside the M25 but within easy driving distance of Kingston, Wimbledon and Central London. Guildford also has relativly good rail links to London, Portsmouth, and the rest of the country. Guildford is on the river wey navigation. The population of Guildford borough (according to the 2001 census) is approximatly 130,000.
Guildford has a fair ammount of history associated with it. The high street is cobbled, and has over hanging it a large, old clock. The town also has a university with a research park containing the offices of Red Hat UK, and Lionhead Studios amongst others. Bullfrog (makers of ThemePark and ThemeHospital) used to have office there until they moved to Chertsy.
There are two main parks in Guildford; Stoke Park, which has hosted "Guilfest" for the last to years. The likes of Catatonia, Pulp, James, Fun Lovin' Criminals and the great Rolf Harris have all appeared at Guilfest. Opposite Stoke Park is "The Spectrum Leisure Center," the home of the "Guildford Flames" Ice hockey team. The other main park in Guildford is located in the castle grounds. All that remains of the castle is the keep now, and it is possible to climb the keep. (Although I think it was closed temporarily last time I went there).
The castle grounds also contains statues represtenting
Lewis Carroll's
Through The Looking Glass. Carroll apparently lived in Guildford for part of his life.
Alan Turing Also lived in Guildford for part of his life.
There are a fair few pubs and clubs in Guildford (probably somthing to do with the large number of students at the universtiy) including Wetherspoons which is in an old factory that used to be owned by Dennis, the manufactuer of fire engines and buses.
Stagg Hill, where Kings of England used to hunt, now has the newest cathedral in the country on top of it. Floodlit at night it is visible from a long way off, and looks quite impressive whilst driving down the hogs back. To become a city officialy a town must have BOTH a cathedral and a charter from the Queen. Guildford does not have a charter, and there was a fuss a while ago now because it applied for one, and if it became a city it would loose the claim to being the oldest town in England.
It is worth noting that car parks in Guildford are very expensive, and sometimes hard to find a space compared to where I am living now (Aberystwyth). In Guildford, two hours costs £1.20, but here it is £1.10 all day, but then everything in Guildford is expensive.