Lying snow at Stancombe, near Bisley

I drove up onto the plateau on the Cotswold hills above Stroud and visited the farm shop, where I stocked up on food and had a good chat with the farm's owners.

On the way I'd noticed how much snow was still lying, whereas down in the valleys nearly all of it has melted. I drove around the nearby village of Bisley and the hamlet of Stancombe and realised that there w= must have been much deeper snowfall anyway with deep drifting some of which was still evident in wildly sculpted snow drifts.

I stopped at the top of the valley where the combe was formed and took some pictures. I like to look at the Cotswold stone walls and spotted this field entrance which is now rather rare.  The original stone pillars from which wooden gates would have hung are still in situ and the gate has been replaced by a few bits of straggly wire. I fear for the walls as they are expensive to maintain and the modern farmers have little time and staff to replace the increasingly collapsing stone walls. The farmers would have been employing their hands during the winter months in repairing them, but now they don't have spare staff. Once they are gone barbed wire will be increasingly used. But on the drive back to Stroud a mile from here I did see a stonewaller at work building a six foot high stretch close to the old drove road, and near to a standing stone, after which Stancombe (stone combe) was named.