Lineover Wood

A walk through this beautiful and peaceful ancient woodland is a treat at any time of the year, but especially in the Spring when the rich variety of wildflowers are at their best. Look out for the 'veteran beech' (waymarked from the Cotswold Way) - it is more than seven metres around the trunk and is reported to be the third oldest beech tree in the country.

In spring and summer, when the varied ground flora comes to life there are swathes of bluebell, speckled with primrose and fragrant lily of the valley, and the shocking pink pyramidal orchids that pop up among the grasses in later months. The abundant wildflowers are a magnet for a host of colourful butterflies too, including our tiniest species, the small blue.

Lineover Wood was first recorded around 800AD as part of the Dowdeswell Estate, but it is even older.

Lineover means ‘lime bank’ in Anglo Saxon, dating the wood to over 1,000 years old. Check out the lime coppice stool that has stood here for most of that 1,000 years, its great age attributable to centuries of coppicing. 

In the late 19th century the site was purchased by Cheltenham Borough Council as part of the catchment area for the Dowdeswell reservoir.

With its network of permissive paths and two waymarked trails, Lineover Wood is a delightful place to while away a few hours and a perfect pit stop if you’re walking the Cotswold Way, which passes through the site.

There are several paths running through the wood with information boards dotted along the routes, and two waymarked trails.

For more informatiion visit the Woodland Trust website or download the Linover Wood Leaflet.
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