The ridge above Snowshill sits at around 250 metres, offering panoramic views across the rolling Cotswold valleys towards Winchcombe and Sudeley Castle. The village of Snowshill itself — its name derives from the Old English 'Snawesille,' recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 — sits in a sheltered hollow below the ridge. The area was given to Winchcombe Abbey by King Coenwulf of Mercia in 821 AD and remained monastic property until the Dissolution. The thin limestone soil and south-facing slopes once made this area ideal for lavender cultivation. While commercial lavender farming has largely moved elsewhere, the dry, chalky grassland still supports wild marjoram and thyme — plants from the same aromatic family. Walking the ridge in high summer, you may catch their scent on the breeze. The crossroads near this marker is where the Cotswold Way intersects an old drove road that linked Snowshill to the markets at Stow-on-the-Wold. Drovers would have walked their sheep along this route for centuries, and the wide grass verges are a relic of the space needed to move large flocks.
“While commercial lavender farming has largely moved elsewhere, the dry, chalky grassland still supports wild marjoram and thyme — plants from the same aromatic family.”
