5 Places For Outdoor Walks In Stroud | Home Instead Stroud

Selsey Common

Selsley Common has superb views over the River Severn and Malvern Hills into Wales. Its internationally significant grassland is home to a breathtaking array of wildflowers, birds and invertebrates and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It also features a Bronze Age burial mound, ‘the Toots’, but it is perhaps the views that make this an ideal venue for a stroll on the Cotswold Way.

Box Wood

Box Wood is tucked away on the edge of the village of Box. Its beech trees are complemented by areas of hazel and box, making it an ideal habitat for the elusive hazel dormouse. The nature reserve supports more than 450 different species, some 58 of which are protected. In spring the woodland is filled with flowers, including anemones, bluebells, herb-Paris and wild garlic. These are followed by bird’s-nest orchids among the beech trees, and common spotted and early purple orchids in the glades. In summer the reserve is visited by woodland butterflies, including the silver-washed fritillary. Great spotted woodpeckers and tawny owls can be heard in the small block of oak trees, while nuthatches and tree creepers can be seen scaling tree trunks. There are several limestone streams running down to an area of wet ground that was once a pond.

Stratford Park

Stratford Park is a 56 acre park located just outside the centre of Stroud, with a great range of facilities to suit all kinds of recreation. The park has won the Green Flag Award on multiple occasions by Keep Britain Tidy and is also a Special Innovation Award winner for Community involvement.

Woodchester Park

Woodchester Park is a beautiful secluded wooded valley.  The tranquil wooded valley contains a ‘lost landscape’ with remains of an 18th- and 19th-century landscape park with a chain of five lakes. Park Mill Pond is the last of these lakes and features a man-made island that is now a heronry. Large carp can also be seen in the waters.

Secreted away in the surrounding woodland, you’ll find an old Boat House, built in the early 19th century. It was restored in 1998 and bats now roost in the roof space, emerging at dusk to hunt over the lake. The wood also hides a disused quarry, which was in use until the early 1900s and provided stone for the Woodchester Estate.

Siccaridge Wood

Siccaridge Wood is a semi-natural ancient woodland, which borders Sapperton Valley. These contrasting and diverse landscapes are rich in wildlife and boast a carpet of bluebells in spring.  Siccaridge Wood and Sapperton Valley offer a diversity of habitats within a relatively small area. A huge variety of tree species from silver birch and hazel to pedunculated and field maple offer refuge to birds, insects and mammals alike.

The woodland supports a sizeable population of dormice, numbers of which are monitored monthly as part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme.

Do you want to find out about the benefits of Home Instead Stroud and South Cotswolds or the wider Stroud area? Give our team a shout if you’d like to know more.