FRIENDS OF JUNIPER HILL FIELD

4th November, 2024

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Dear Supporters,

 

To our great delight, we can finally announce that Juniper Hill Field has been purchased by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust thanks to a very generous anonymous donation. This means the remarkable 20 acre hilltop field with its beautiful orchids, skylarks and stunning views has been saved for future generations.

This was the dream of our two-year campaign and the odds against us seemed impossible at many points, but today we are celebrating a stunning victory.

 

We made the case for saving this limestone grassland – part of the 1.5% that remains in the Cotswolds after decades of intensive arable farming – and we have been heard. We are thrilled.

 

Our hope now is that the field will continue to go from strength to strength as a haven for wildlife. Careful management through light grazing by cattle will help insect life to flourish, wild flowers to spread while the development of scrub along field boundaries will integrate it into the neighbouring three Sites of Special Scientific Interest at Frith Wood, Juniper Hill and Bull’s Cross to ensure a remarkable mosaic of different habitats for wildlife. In the wider area, the field will be a key link between the commons of Stroud and the National Trust’s land at Ebworth and beyond to Cranham Common, ensuring the kind of connectivity necessary for wildlife to adapt to climate crisis.

 

Many will have seen how Woodlands.co.uk, the previous owner, had split the field into small plots and were trying to sell them to lifestyle purchasers looking for an off grid rural retreat. We had deep concerns that the only access to the field for the prospective owners was along an old bridleway through the stunning beechwoods of Frith Wood with the risk of damaging the trees, and disturbing the wildlife of this important SSSI.

 

 Our campaign won support from Stroud District Council, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, the Green Party and the National Trust; we got coverage both locally and nationally. Local residents, broadcaster Mary Portas and actor Josh O’Connor, threw their weight behind us as patrons. We gathered well over a thousand signatories on a petition to Woodland.co.uk, and nearly a hundred attended a ‘coffee morning’ on the field in October 2023. We can’t thank all our supporters enough: you have made a difference.

 

We remain deeply concerned at the business practices of Woodland.co.uk which purports to have an interest in conservation. This field was inappropriate for their form of development but attempts at dialogue were ignored.

 

A small team of local residents, the Friends of Juniper Hill Field, remain deeply committed to the future of this area, and will work to support Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust as it develops its plans. We want to encourage people’s knowledge and love of this remarkable place and hope next year to have guided walks, as well as a public meeting to discuss footpaths, and training for volunteers to do surveys of the wildlife. We will continue to keep you in touch with events and news so please encourage neighbours and local walkers to sign up. If you are interested in any of the above, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you.

 

Finally, at the heart of this campaign have been two remarkable women, Joy and Hanny who live in the neighbouring valleys of Slad and Painswick. For four decades they have met each other on the hill between the two valleys at Juniper Hill Field, on regular walks. Their love and deep knowledge of the area has inspired us all.

 

The photo below was taken a fortnight ago when Joy and Hanny and a few of the Friends met with Emma Hutchins, the director of conservation at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust on Juniper Hill Field to raise a glass in celebration!

 

Please join us at The Woolpack on November 19th at 6.30pm to celebrate!

 

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