The Undiscovered Cotswolds

The Five Valley Festivals last the whole of September and are focussed around three weekends. The first sees the three day Stroud Fringe and the launch of the Stroud Food and Drink Festival. The second, the Stroud Festival of Nature and the launch of the Stroud Walking Festival. On the third weekend the Eco-Renovation Homes weekend.

The western edge of the Costwold Hills are marked by an almost unbroken escarpment that rises directly from the flat landscape of the Severn Vale.

An escarpment clothed in beech woods, crowned with grassy beacons and commons from which the views across the River Severn to the Forest of Dean and the Black Mountains beyond, are truly wonderful.

In contrast the town of Stroud is surrounded by hills on all sides, at the heart of the Five Valleys. The town lies at the meeting of all the roads, of all the valleys streams and rivers. The Cotswold Canals run through it and so to the main Great Western railway line line to Paddington, London.

The escarpment is a few miles away from the town and easily accessible. Although we are very much at the heart, we are also on the edge.

Is that why we think the town and its valleys are unique. Is that why so many artists live and work here, why there are so many musicians, so many green and countryside organisations and community groups dedicated to improving so many aspects of people’s lives and the environment around them.

Difficult to pin down why Stroud is the place it is. Maybe it’s just the people. We have our feet on the ground, but like things a little edgy. We like it here and want others to share some of the best things about it.