Snows Farm Nature Reserve

Snows Farm lies at the head of the Slad valley, at the end of Steanbridge Lane about 5km north-east of Stroud, in the Five Valleys. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust looks after its 21 hectares of old limestone grassland, pasture, ancient beech wood, screes and the tree-lined Dillay Brook, where more than 300 kinds of plant have been found.

History

Snows Farm's grassland survived because it was too steep to plough. The Trust explains that the slopes were never fit for crops, so they were kept as sheep pasture and missed the agricultural "improvements" (ploughing, reseeding and fertiliser) that stripped the flowers from most Cotswold grassland after the 1950s.

From farm to reserve

The land has been managed as a nature reserve since 1975, and its owner, Peter Duddridge, gave it to the Trust in 1989. The farmhouse itself is still a private home. At the northern end of the reserve are the remains of a building called the Old Shop, now no more than a stone enclosure and a heap of stones.

What to see

The Trust says the reserve is worth a visit at any time of year.

• Early purple, fragrant and pyramidal orchids, with autumn gentian, vervain and clustered bellflower later in the summer.
• Small blue, marbled white and green hairstreak butterflies.
• The Dillay Brook, lined with wayfaring tree, alder, white willow, ash and hazel, and its grey wagtails.
• Old hedges and scrub of dog-rose, field rose, hawthorn and dogwood, with whitethroats in summer.
• Ancient beech woods with deadwood and screes on the steeper slopes.

Over the open slopes, listen for skylarks and tree pipits; marsh tits, goldfinches and buzzards are about too, and the cattle and Dartmoor ponies that keep the grass short are usually somewhere on the hill.

Visiting

Snows Farm is free and open all year, on public footpaths and the Trust's permissive paths. The ground is uneven throughout with some steep slopes. Cattle and Dartmoor ponies graze it, so dogs must be on a lead. The farmhouse is private: go through the Snows Farm gate, cross the stile on the public footpath in front of the house, and carry on down to the brook, where the reserve gate is marked with the Trust's roundel. There are no facilities.

Getting there

From the B4070 Slad Road, take the narrow lane down into Slad village, follow it to the valley bottom and climb on to the end of Steanbridge Lane, about a mile. Park free on the small triangle where the road splits or in the layby on the right, without blocking the gate (GL6 7QE). On foot, the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way reaches the reserve on its first half and turns south past the farm and over the Dillay Brook; the reserve is on the Slad Valley Way too, and the Wysis Way crosses it.

Nearby

Swift’s Hill is about 2km south-west down the valley and Frith Wood about 2km west on the ridge, both Trust reserves on the same walk. In Slad, Laurie Lee is buried at Holy Trinity, across the road from the Woolpack.