Fish Hill Picnic Place

Fish Hill

The site boasts a spectacular location on the crest of the Cotswold escarpment, the only part of Worcestershire to be actually on the Cotswolds. The story has it that Fish Hill got its name because, after their efforts of climbing the steep hill, local people would go to the pub at the top to refresh themselves, and would drink ‘like a fish’, as the climb was so steep.

Trees including Wild Cherry, White Poplar and Field Maple add a splash of colour to the site, with areas of glassland left to grow wild flowers such as vetches, bedstraw and orchids, some being very specialist to the dry limestone soils of the Cotswolds. Where there are wild flowers and grasses, there are butterflies and insects, which attract small mammals, bats and birds all, taking advantage of the rich habitat. If you sit quietly for a while, you'll be surprised at just how much is around.

Venture into the Beech woods, and you may feel you have entered into an enchanted world belonging to another time. You can almost hear the horses and stage-coaches clattering along the ancient road in the woods, on their way to Oxford and London with produce from the Evesham Vale. Listen out for drumming sound of Woodpeckers in the trees, or an owl hooting late in the day. The trees are home to hundreds of woodland birds and insects.

Work was begun on this former quarry site in 1971. Improvements were being made to the alignment of the busy Evesham to Oxford road. This improvement involved buying a disused Cotswold stone quarry. As not all the area was required for roadworks, the County Planning Committee decided to buy the rest of the site for development as a picnic site.

The rocks that form the Cotswold Hills date back between 210 and 140 million years ago. Fossils are still found at Fish Hill, evidence that many thousands of years ago this site was under the sea. When it was a quarry, limestone was taken from here and used in many local buildings, stone masonry, road making and dry stone walls. The lovely honey-coloured stone has been used to build St Paul's Cathedral in London, and even Melbourne Cathedral in Australia.

A typical feature of the Cotswold landscape, dry stone walling is a traditional craft that requires great skill. The main body of the wall is made up of two skins of coursed stones and a centre carefully filled with broken stone. This design sheds water allowing the stone to dry out, reducing chemical and physical weathering. If you take a close up look at the Cotswold stone walls here, you can imagine how long it takes to fit all the stones in place.