Blakehill Farm including Stoke Common Meadow

Blakehill hay making

Ralph Harvey

Blakehill Farm including Stoke Common Meadow

This former military airfield in Cricklade has been turned back into a wildlife-rich hay meadow.

Location

Cricklade
Wiltshire
SN6 6RA

OS Map Reference

SU073923

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A static map of Blakehill Farm including Stoke Common Meadow

Know before you go

Size
264 hectares
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Entry fee

Free
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Parking information

Blakehill Farm is signposted off the B4040, Malmesbury Road, between Minety and Cricklade. There is a small car park at the reserve entrance.

Bicycle parking

None. If cycling from Chelworth there is no general access by bike as we do not own all of the land. Cyclists will be faced with a locked gate.

Grazing animals

Yes

Access

Open access. Suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs. The reserve is very flat and easy to navigate on the tarmac tracks.

If you see a red padlock on the kissing gate - it is not locked! This is a radar lock for disabled access areas and you can still pass through as normal.

Dogs

No dogs permitted

This is due to ground nesting birds and livestock. See our FAQ's for more information.

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Facilities

Accessible trails

When to visit

Opening times

Open at all times.

Best time to visit

Spring and summer

About the reserve

In World War II Dakotas took off from here carrying troops and equipment to the battlefields of Europe. The old runways are long gone but they can still be traced by the changes in vegetation. 

Learn more about the site's history

We are turning this former military airfield back into wildlife-rich hay meadow and pasture, habitats which have steeply declined in Wiltshire and the UK. On this one reserve we are meeting more than 45% of the government's 10-year target for restoring hay meadow in England!

The grassland is home to brown hare, roe deer, kestrel and skylarks. Adder’s-tongue fern, great burnet, oxeye daisies, ladies bedstraw and bird’s-foot-trefoil flower in the grasses.

Living in the hedgerows are bullfinch, lapwing, grass snake and 14 species of dragonfly.

Spiny restharrow and dyer’s greenweed are rare but survive here. Above the flowers fly small copper, brown hairstreak, common blue and marbled white butterflies. Birds include wheatears, whinchats, stonechats, partridge, barn owls and tawny owls.

Blakehill is the farm base for our northern reserves. We cut the hay in July after the skylarks have nested, then graze with cattle and sheep to control vigorous grasses. In some areas we are reseeding with local wildflower seed. 

See the Blakehill sightings blog

Contact us

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
Contact number: 01380 725670

Environmental designation

County Wildlife Site

Map of Blakehill

Map of Blakehill
Volunteer

Volunteer, Aline Denton, cuts brambles and blackthorn as part of the farm's conservation management - Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

Volunteer at Blakehill

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Great spot for a walk with the family. Easygoing for little ones as terrain is very flat, with a number of marked routes
Ed from Swindon
Very quiet, very restful, very pretty countryside and quite a history too!
David from Swindon