Laurie Lee Way, Slad Valley, Gloucestershire

The Laurie Lee Way – A Slad Valley Pilgrimage

Follow in the footsteps of Laurie Lee through the landscape that shaped Cider with Rosie and so much of his life’s writing. This gentle 5-6 mile circular pilgrimage winds through the Slad Valley in Gloucestershire, one of the most beautifully preserved pockets of the Cotswolds, where steep beech woods, wildflower meadows and hidden springs form a natural amphitheatre around the village he called home.

Starting at Slad’s Holy Trinity Church - where Lee is buried beneath a simple gravestone bearing a line from his poem April Rise - the route invites you to walk slowly through the terrain that gave rise to his most vivid imagery: the lanes where he played as a boy, the fields he wandered as a young poet, and the pub where he dreamt, listened and wrote. Along the way you’ll encounter viewpoints that still hold the hush and spaciousness Lee described, stillness punctuated by birdsong in a storied landscape.

As a pilgrimage, the Laurie Lee Way is an invitation to tune into the land and imagination. Whether taken in quiet contemplation or as a celebration of Lee’s life and work, it is a route that reconnects walkers with a slower, more attentive way of seeing – something Laurie Lee expressed so unforgettably.

More Information

An excellent leaflet produced by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust can be purchased - https://gloswildlife.myshopify.com/products/laurie-lee-wildlife-walk-trail-leaflet

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