Under The Elms

"Named three years running as the most desirable place to live in the UK, Elmbridge, where town and country meet, has something for everyone..."

- Elmbridge Borough Council Website

As well as being home to footballers, rockstars and television personalities, Elmbridge, an affluent, leafy area of Surrey just outside London, has recently become known as the 'dogging capital of England'.

Dogging, the British term for engaging in sexual acts in public and semi-public places, has been around since the 1970s, supposedly arising from men following and watching couples having sex in wooded areas – dogging their every move. Another suggestion of the origin of the term is that participants would go out under the guise of taking the dog for a walk; an effort to keep their illicit outdoor pursuits hidden from family members.

Of more than two hundred Public Sex Environments (P.S.E) or 'dogging spots', known to police across the UK, almost half of these exist in Surrey, with many of them listed online as being in various towns throughout Elmbridge. Innocuous sites such as wooded lanes, parks and roadside lay-bys become something entirely different, serving a purpose for which they were never intended.

Although participants run the risk of being prosecuted for a number of offences related to public display of sexual behaviour, the laws pertaining to dogging remain ambiguous and so the practice continues, much to the dismay of many of the locals residents.