Eat and drink · Slad
The Woolpack, Slad
A small dog-friendly pub on the Slad road across from the church, Laurie Lee's local in his later years, with a fireside bar, a snug, vine-covered terraces and a dining room that cooks from its own kitchen garden.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Laurie Lee's pub, still small and still busy. The food is better than the room's size suggests. Book the dining room at weekends, and note there is no food on Mondays.
- Good: Laurie Lee's local, opposite the church and his grave
- Good: Dining room cooking from its own kitchen garden at Lypiatt Park
- Good: Dog friendly, with a fireside bar and a snug
- Good: 400m from where the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way crosses the road
- Worth knowing: No food on Mondays; the bar only
- Worth knowing: Small and busy: book at weekends; limited street parking only
About
The Woolpack stands on the bend of the B4070 in Slad, across the road from Holy Trinity church and the churchyard where Laurie Lee is buried. The Victoria County History dates it to the 1830s, built with the church and the school. Lee had a home in the village again by 1972, and the pub's own site calls it his local. Dan Chadwick has owned the freehold since 1999.
It is a small pub: a fireside bar, a snug to the left of the bar that seats up to 12, a dining room and vine-covered terraces, with real ales, craft beer and cider. Adam Glover has been head chef since 2013, cooking pub classics beside more careful plates from British produce and the pub's two-acre kitchen garden in the Victorian walled gardens of Lypiatt Park, two miles away. In summer the dining moves out under the vines, sometimes with the chefs at the Josper grill on the terrace, and tables there are shared.
The bar opens every day from noon. The dining room serves lunch from noon to 2.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday and to 3.30pm on Sundays, and dinner from 6pm to 9pm, or 8.30pm on Sundays; on Mondays only the bar is open. It is dog friendly. Book online through the pub's website, or by phone or email, especially for Sunday lunch.
Walkers on the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way make the 400m detour from where the trail crosses the road. There is only limited street parking outside, so park with care: the road carries traffic between Stroud and Birdlip. The pub notes a bus from Stroud on Thursdays and Saturdays, one or two journeys each way.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 12:00
| Mon | Opening | Restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 12:00 to 22:00 | Closed |
| Tuesday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:00 |
| Wednesday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:00 |
| Thursday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:00 |
| Friday | 12:00 to 00:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:00 |
| Saturday | 12:00 to 00:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:00 |
| Sunday | 12:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 15:30, 18:00 to 20:30 |
Restaurant: The dining room. No food on Mondays.
The details
- Food
- Modern British · Pub classics · Grill and steak
- Serving
- Lunch · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Booking a table
- Booking recommended
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Open fire · Real ale · Bar · Restaurant · Private dining · Dogs inside
- History
- Built in the 1830s; Laurie Lee's local in his later years
- Parking
- Limited street parking outside the pub; the pub asks guests to share cars where they can
Photos
Lunch in the dining room 
Dressed crab 
The view from the garden 
A corner of the bar
Location
Places to stay nearby
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Cotswold Lodge
Self-catering · Painswick
A one-bedroom lodge on Stamages Lane, Painswick, for two adults and up to two young children, with a deck over the valley and free parking.
Verified Oct 2026
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The Painswick
Hotel · Painswick
A 16-room hotel in a Palladian house on Kemps Lane, Painswick, part of the Calcot Collection, with an AA Rosette restaurant and dogs in some rooms.
Dog-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
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Barn Cottage, Painswick
Self-catering · Painswick
A three-bedroom barn conversion in Painswick, sleeping six in en suite rooms, with off-road parking, an enclosed courtyard and dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Cotswold Lodge 2.1 km away
- The Painswick 2.3 km away
- Stable Cottage, Painswick 2.4 km away
- Barn Cottage, Painswick 2.4 km away
Sights nearby
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Holy Trinity Church, Slad
Sight · Church · Stroud and the Five Valleys
Holy Trinity is Slad's small village church, built in 1831 to designs by Charles Baker of Painswick and reconstructed by Benjamin Bucknall in 1869, with a stone spirelet. Laurie Lee, who grew up in the valley, is buried in its churchyard, opposite a memorial window. Open by day.
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Swift's Hill
Sight · Nature reserve · Stroud and the Five Valleys
Swift's Hill is a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve of 10 hectares of steep limestone grassland above the Slad valley, an SSSI with more than 130 kinds of wildflower, 13 orchids and 29 butterflies, on a hill that appears in Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie.
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Frith Wood
Sight · Wood · Stroud and the Five Valleys
Frith Wood is an ancient beech wood of 24 hectares on the ridge between the Painswick and Slad valleys, a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve and SSSI recorded as beech woodland for over 1,000 years, with bluebells, wild garlic and woodruff in spring.
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Snows Farm Nature Reserve
Sight · Nature reserve · Stroud and the Five Valleys
Snows Farm is a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve of 21 hectares at the head of the Slad valley: old limestone grassland, ancient beech wood and the Dillay Brook, with more than 300 kinds of plant, grazed by cattle and Dartmoor ponies, on the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way.