"This is a lovely place to be when the sun is shining on an autumn afternoon," says Jan to me.

This place is the lawns of Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club: I am here at the invitation of Mike Huxley, the club's chairman.

Jan isn't wrong: with a backdrop of trees climbing steadily up the hillside behind us, the picturesque wooden pavilion with its clock facing beaming out benevolently across the courts and the smooth green carpet upon which the game is played, it is indeed a lovely place to be spending the afternoon.

Mike has explained to me the rules of the two types of croquet - association and golf - and very patiently guided me through a training session before letting me join some of the regulars for a match.

Jan, Julie, Mike's wife Andrea and I are enjoying a game as the sun warms our heads and hands. Or rather I am enjoying the game: the others are patiently encouraging a complete novice who I am certain was in all respects ruining it.

They let me take a few shots more than once, and wait patiently while I retrieve the ball after a misjudged shot rolls over the court boundary line.

"That's a great defensive shot," says Jan brightly as I overshoot the hoop.

And "well done," they chorus as I eventually manage to knock the ball through.

They are kind, encouraging and endlessly patient as I literally take a mallet to the game that they love.

Roll-up sessions.

Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club started in about 1985 and now has around 60 members. The club holds a roll-up for members three times a week – Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday - as well as - until the pandemic struck - competitions and social events. Club members come from all walks of life, and many have experience of having played before - after a fashion. "Some of them have played some form of croquet in their garden," Mike says. But the proper game is more nuanced than that - and much more competitive. "We put on training courses for complete beginners," he says, adding that by the end of three sessions the newcomers are 'fairly proficient.' "I think lockdown has motivated people to want to get out somewhere. The good thing is you can do it completely safely socially distanced while playing the game of croquet." The other beauty of the game – and this ground in particular – is that members can play all year round, making the most of winter sunshine as well as the warm summer afternoons. "We're very fortunate in that the lawns are well drained," Mike says. "We don't close down, we can play all the way through the year." I ask how long a roll-up session lasts. "It depends how energetic people are feeling," he smiles. "The game of golf croquet takes about 45 to 50 minutes, which gives us time for three games in an afternoon." A battle of wits.

And it's not just a game of skilfully guiding heavy balls through a succession of hoops either.

It's more like a game of 3D chess: a strategic battle conducted on the smooth grass of the court, in which you have to outwit your opponent. If he or she takes up a position that skews your line to the hoop you have to rethink: if he or she blocks the hoop with a ball that will only take a small tap through with the next shot, you have to decide whether try to nudge them out of the way, jump over them or abandon that hoop and set off towards the next.

"The nice thing about golf croquet is that you may have a plan, but as soon as your opponent has played you may have to change that plan," Mike says.

There is a handicap system, as in golf, with players playing off anything typically from a minus 2 to a handicap of 12. Players progress up the rankings by winning competitive games against opponents, Mike explains.

"The good thing abut the handicap system is that it evens things out," he says.

Players with a higher handicap will get extra shots in a game, which can be taken wherever the player chooses.

It's a game of skill and strategy, and as you might expect, inter-club games and tournaments are closely fought.

Competition success.

The club belongs to the South East Croquet Federation, and takes part in its competitive league. "Normally we are able to compete against other teams, and the tournaments are open to anybody from anywhere in the country," Mike explains. Sadly the competitive side of the game been badly affected this year, thanks to the pandemic, but the club did manage to stage one open tournament at the end of the summer, in addition to internal competitions for members only. Is it competitive? I naively ask. "It's exceedingly competitive," Mike assures me, adding, wryly, that "The big rivalry is between me and my wife." Andrea is playing a friendly game with three other players on the court a short distance away. "This is a friendly roll-up session," she says, "but certainly, in competition we take it very seriously." The roll-up afternoons are informal and friendly, and there is much laughter and general chat as the teams make their way round the courts. Players are drawn at random into groups, and will change round after each game, so everybody has a chance to play with everyone else. "On a summer evening we will bring food and share it," Mike adds. Unfortunately this was cancelled this year because of the pandemic. The club's members come from a fair distance: Rudgwick, Horsley and Farnham all supply players.

And it's good exercise too: "In an afternoon of golf croquet you probably walk two to three miles," Mike says.

"On a nice summer day there's no nicer place to be than here playing croquet."

The roll-ups tend to see members playing golf croquet, as it is a quicker game.

"Association croquet is more complicated and takes longer to learn, but it's a more satisfying game," says Mike.

A game of association croquet isn't for the faint-hearted: it can last up to three hours, he says.

Both Mike and Andrea also referee the game, and last year were referees at the World Golf Croquet Championships, with the final held at Southwick, near Shoreham.

A passion for the game.

A professor, and retired lecturer in the engineering department at Surrey University, Mike joined the club in 2001. He has played association croquet to county level: he played for Middlesex, his county of birth, for around five years, he says. "After that golf croquet was becoming more popular, so I took that up as well," he says. He then went on to represent Surrey in inter-county competitions at golf croquet. After playing tennis and squash for much of his adult life, Mike stepped back from sport in his fifties. It was the encouragement of his children, with whom he used to play croquet in the garden, that led him to take up the sport at club level. "In 2000, my sons, both engineers and working in the same office in Bristol, took up croquet: they got up to a good standard, and they encouraged me to try it," he says. So he turned up at Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club, and "the second time I came down here I joined the club. "I was just fascinated by it all. After two months I entered a tournament here, and won it." "A little group got established who wanted to play golf croquet, so we started a roll-up on Tuesday afternoons, and it spread from there." Since then he has travelled to tournaments all over the country: Southport, Nottingham, Sidmouth and Ramsgate among other destinations. The club has an enviable record in competition: they have won the South East Croquet Federation Golf Croquet League, says Mike, and the Longman Cup National Association tornament. And it's a sport that's growing in popularity: Mike says that when he started in 2001 there were 120 clubs affiliated to the national organisation; that number has since almost doubled. Get a good mallet.

The only expense involved in joining the club, should you fall in love with the game and decide to take it up, is the membership fee: members can bring their own mallet, or use one belonging to the club. They come in different lengths, for different heights: players often buy their own, or have them made for them, to suit their style of play. There are at least three ways to hold the mallet, after all. Those with carbon fibre shafts are popular. A top-quality mallet will set you back about £300, but there are perfectly good ones available for around £150.

The club's home is between the rugby club and the grounds of the crematorium off Guildford Road. So head along, enjoy a free induction session: you never know, once competition restarts you may be lifting a trophy too.

Mike can be contacted via email here or by phone on 07919 200218.