Location:
High up on the Cotswold Hills overlooking the spa town of Cheltenham and the Malvern Hills beyond is Snowshill. This cute village with its golden hue, authentic Cotswold stone cottages has been home to many different groups of people across the years. The village dates back to the Bronze Age and in the late nineteenth century an early Bronze Age hoard was found just outside Snowshill. The items were excavated from a barrow in 1881 and include a picrite battle-ax, a bronze pin, dagger and spear-head. This wonderful find dates back to between 2100 and 1600 BC and the lovely artefacts now have a home in the British Museum.
Snowshill is famous for its Manor House and Gardens owned by the National Trust and in the last twenty plus years its famous Cotswold Lavender fields. A great combination of places to visit if you have a whole day to spare.
The Gardens:
Alerted by a Facebook post, with the sun shining down on a beautiful August morning we decided to pay the Lavender Fields a visit. They open for just eight weeks every summer from around the start of June until the beginning of August. Their website gives more information on this along with up to date opening times and admission fees.
The first lavender at Hill Barn Farm was planted back in 1999. Over the years it has grown to a 70 acre purple spectacle stretching out across the hill top. The lavender is harvested around the end of July each year hence the limited opening period. The harvest produces the essential oil and lavender grains needed to make the products sold worldwide by the farm.
Walking Through The Gardens
Once you have paid your admission fee you can enter and exit as many times as you like providing you keep the ticket on you. This is really useful if, like us, you bring your own picnic. We were able to leave it in the car until such times as we were hungry and then we picked it up and spread it out on one of the many wooden picnic tables scattered around the first part of the site. They also have a small kiosk selling hot drinks, snacks and ice creams if you just want to take a break during your visit.
There are approx 20 acres to wander around and enjoy. Weirdly the customary smell of lavender doesn’t fill the air but instead there is the constant buzzing of bees as they fly amongst the purple flowers gathering the nectar to make their honey. I was expecting to see some hives tucked away somewhere but alas that wasn’t to be.
There is no set trail, you can basically wander at your will keeping to the pre made pathways between the rows of lavender or around the outside.
We arrived not long after opening and the fields were quiet enough to take photographs without too many problems but as we were leaving after lunch it was definitely much busier and a couple of coaches arrived no doubt transporting day trippers from London or Oxford as part of their Cotswold tour.
In addition to the lavender in recent years the farm has also begun to plant an area solely dedicated to beautiful wild flowers. It is so picturesque, the colours almost take your breathe away.
Again there are pathways to walk upon but sadly in this world of Instagrammable photos people have taken to sitting within the flower displays and thus damaging the flowers beneath (as you can see below). I personally found this incredibly sad, selfish because it spoils the vision for those visitors who come after the culprits and upsetting. It is so unnecessary. Pathways are provided for a reason, please stay on them.
Finally there is also a woodland trail that takes you out onto the edge of the hill so you can admire the fabulous views across the valleys and hills beyond. A site locator board is available so you can pick out the relevant places when scanning the view. There are also plenty of strategically placed wooden bridges, tunnels, animal painted wooden markers and den-like structures for children to investigate and let off some steam.
The lavender fields are an awesome site to behold and we happily spent a couple of hours here. I love the fact that you are experiencing something natural which is only available for a limited time each year. If you are in the area I would definitely recommend a visit.
NB: This is the ninth post in my series about the wonderful “Cotswolds”. An area that you really shouldn’t miss out on visiting if you are coming to the UK. It’s full of olde world charm, history going back to the Roman era and beautiful architecture. Check out previous posts in this series plus more to come soon.
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I love to hear what my readers think and also look forward to your recommendations of places to see in the Cotswolds for my future adventures Thank you
A Midlife Adventure 