The beech woods surrounding Cranham are not merely old — they are ancient in the fullest sense. Buckholt Wood, whose name derives from the Saxon word for beechwood, is believed to have existed continuously since the original wildwood developed after the last ice age retreated roughly 10,000 years ago. Today it forms part of the Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve in the Cotswolds at 665 hectares. The reserve was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1954 and is protected as a European Special Area of Conservation. Beneath the beech canopy, the ground flora is unusually rich for this type of woodland. Wild strawberry carpets the drier slopes, and rarer species include bird's-nest orchid, narrow-lipped helleborine, stinking hellebore and yellow star-of-Bethlehem. But it is the fungi that truly set Buckholt Wood apart: over 780 species have been recorded here, including the extremely rare white variant of the scarlet elfcup, of which there are only a handful of records nationally. The beech trees also harbour rare spiders and snails found almost exclusively in ancient woodland, while disused limestone mines on the hillside serve as winter roosts for several bat species. Tawny owls, tree pipits and lesser-spotted woodpeckers breed in the canopy above. The Cotswold Way threads through this living museum, connecting walkers to a woodland ecosystem that has persisted, largely unbroken, since the Stone Age.
“Wild strawberry carpets the drier slopes, and rarer species include bird's-nest orchid, narrow-lipped helleborine, stinking hellebore and yellow star-of-Bethlehem.”
