A place in the world
Snowshill
Snowshill is a hilltop village set high and a little apart above the Vale of Evesham, best known for the manor of curiosities at its heart and the lavender fields on the slope below. Here is what is worth doing in Snowshill, when to come, and the quiet it keeps out of season.
At a glance
- Where
- Snowshill, Gloucestershire, a high hilltop village above the Vale of Evesham, about two to three miles south of Broadway.
- Best time to visit
- June to August for the Cotswold Lavender in flower, with July the peak. The National Trust manor opens seasonally, so check before you travel.
- How long to spend
- Half a day to a full day with the manor, garden and lavender; the village itself is a short stroll.
- Parking
- The big practical point. There is a free National Trust car park a short walk from the manor; there is almost no parking in the village, and residents ask that you do not try.
- Getting there
- No station nearby. Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham, each seven or eight miles off, are the nearest, with Moreton direct from London Paddington in around ninety minutes, then a taxi. By car, up the hill from Broadway.
- Dog friendly
- Partly. Dogs on leads are welcome in the manor grounds and at the lavender, and in the pub, but not in the house itself.
- Family friendly
- Yes. The manor's collection and the lavender fields both hold a child's attention, and there is a play area at the pub.
Things to do in Snowshill
Snowshill Manor and Garden
The National Trust manor at the heart of the village, and the reason most people come. The collector Charles Paget Wade bought it in 1919 and filled it with more than twenty thousand objects, from clocks and musical instruments to twenty-six suits of Japanese samurai armour, under his motto Let Nothing Perish. He gave it to the Trust in 1951 and lived not in the manor but in the small priest's house beside it, leaving the great rooms to the collection.
Cotswold Lavender
On the hill above the village, a forty-five-acre lavender farm with rows running off toward the Vale of Evesham, open to the public only when it is in flower, usually from June to early August. It is the one reliable crowd of Snowshill's year, and on a warm day in July the scent reaches the car park.
St Barnabas Church
The village church looks older than it is: a Victorian rebuild of 1864, where the planned spire was abandoned for a capped tower when the money ran short. It keeps an older font and a seventeenth-century pulpit from the church before it.
The hilltop village
Snowshill itself is small, stone and high, a green and a scatter of cottages on a windy ridge with long views. Its winter quiet was used for the Christmas scenes of Bridget Jones's Diary, filmed in the village with fake snow one June, though the house used was a private one and not the manor.
Visiting Snowshill: parking, getting there, when to go
Snowshill sits high on its hill a couple of miles up from Broadway, reached by a climbing lane, and the practical thing to get right is parking. There is a free National Trust car park a short walk from the manor, with electric charging points, and it fills quickly in the lavender weeks. The village itself has next to no parking, and the houses are people's homes, so do not park among them.
The manor and garden open seasonally rather than year round, and the lavender opens only while it is in flower, so it is worth checking both before you set out. Out of those seasons there is little to do but admire the view.
There is no station nearby. Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham, each seven or eight miles off, are the closest, with Moreton direct from London Paddington in around ninety minutes; from there it is a taxi or a drive, as the nearest bus stop is back down the hill at Broadway.
Where to eat, drink & stay
The Snowshill Arms, on the green, is the village pub, a Donnington Brewery house pouring the local ale, with a beer garden, a children's play area and the long view off the ridge.
The manor has a National Trust café for cake and a light lunch, and the lavender farm runs a seasonal café of its own.
For a wider choice, Broadway is a short drive down the hill.
Snowshill questions, answered
- What is Snowshill famous for?
- Two things: Snowshill Manor, the National Trust house packed with Charles Wade's collection of more than twenty thousand curiosities, and the Cotswold Lavender fields on the hill above the village, which flower in high summer.
- What is Snowshill Manor?
- A Tudor manor given to the National Trust in 1951 by the architect and collector Charles Paget Wade, who filled it over a lifetime with more than twenty thousand objects, including twenty-six sets of Japanese samurai armour, under his motto Let Nothing Perish. He lived in the cottage beside it, not the house.
- When does the Snowshill lavender flower?
- Usually from June to early August, with the peak in July. Cotswold Lavender opens to the public only while it is in bloom, so the season is short and the timing worth checking before you go.
- Is Snowshill worth visiting?
- Yes, especially in lavender season or for the manor. The collection is one of the strangest and best in the Trust's hands, and the hilltop setting is lovely. Out of season it is very quiet, with the manor and lavender both closed, so time it with care.
Out of lavender season the village goes back to its quiet, high and a little weatherbeaten on its ridge.
Snowshill is the kind of place that holds a great deal more than it shows from the road, which in this country is rather the point, and rather the rule.
The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →