A small Community project supported by Cainscross Town Council, Stroud District Council, Gloucestershire County Council and Stroud Valleys Project.
Public Footpath MCA20, affectionately known as the Muddy Path, runs from Westward Road to the end of Frome Gardens, in-between Ebley Court and Monkey Puzzle Close and then behind Greenaways.
The path lies along the line of the boundary post-and-rail fence to the garden of the original Ebley Court, once the residence of the Clothier at Ebley Mill, but demolished around 1970.
There is a wonderful oil painting by Alfred Newland Smith in the Museum in the Park, which shows the Mill, the Court and the fence sometime around 1850. It is reproduced on the information board along the towpath at Ebley Mill.
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| Before tree topping |
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| After |
Ebley Court and Monkey Puzzle Close residents living adjacent to the top of the Muddy Path clubbed together in 2023 to instigate routine maintenance of the trees along that stretch and to manage the full length of the path for enhanced biodiversity. The understory was cleared and rubbish and rubble removed. (Gloucestershire County Council kindly contributed to the cost of the initial tree work).
Bee hotels and three types of bird boxes were made, painted and installed.
A poetry rack with a weekly poem was also put up for the further enjoyment of passers by.
In September 2024 our small community planted more than 500 spring bulbs (Tenby and wild daffodils, single and double wild snowdrops and English bluebells) and sowed a wild flower seed mix. We are really grateful to Cainscross Town Council for a grant towards the cost of the bulbs.
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| Bulb planting September 2024 |
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| with feline assistance? |
In November 2024 the ever enthusiastic Stroud Valleys Project Tuesday Group, under the supervision of our lovely leader Tamsin, cleared more understory, removed bramble roots, put in 150 extra snowdrop and bluebell bulbs, and added wild garlic and a hundred wood anemone rhizomes. Wild primrose, cowslip and small-teasel seeds were scattered along the banks.
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| Itchy work |
We also planted some native hedging whips (hazel and hawthorn).
The path was cleared of leaves too and three large piles made for hedgehogs to snooze in comfortably over winter.
January 2025
Harbingers of wildlife treats to come: A pair of long-tailed tits enjoying their bug breakfast from the sycamore bark.
February 2025
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| Our first snowdrops |
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Galanthus nivalis
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| Double snowdrop Flore Pleno |
And a marmalade hoverfly on a golden lesser celandine soaking up the sunshine as well as the nectar.
St David’s Day, and the newly planted Winter Aconites are vying with the Tenby and Wild daffodils and lesser celandine for best in bloom.
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| Drone fly (Eristalis) on lesser celandine |
The first wood anemone on the bottom section, curtesy of SVP Tuesday Group’s planting last autumn.
Now accompanied by a Woodland wildflowers seed mix sown in sunshine towards the end of March by Lewis.
And the early butterflies:
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| Speckled Wood |
May and the cowslips have taken over; and a hoverfly lagoon now added to the side.
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| Amazing Dryad’s Saddle fungus |
The Mid-Counties Co-op have kindly awarded us a small Community Grant towards spring bulbs for the lower half of the path, so we are looking forward to another Community planting day in the autumn, 2025. Meanwhile, there is still much bramble to clear, but we will be tackling it most weeks over the spring and summer with Lewis enthusiastically wielding the mattock.
September 2025
Now just the green waste to remove before planting a mix of wild daffodils, yellow allium, summer snowflake, grape hyacinth and anemone blanda in October. We’ve grown and already put in some hawthorn, hazel and spindle saplings to create a hedge along the fence for birds and other wildlife.
From 2025 Stroud District Council has offered to take our annual hedge clippings etc for recycling. The green waste will be stored in hippo-bags prior to collection.
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| Tidied and planted |
Sunday, 26th October 2025 - another excellent autumnal morning with 14 of us popping in the spring bulbs and Aubrey, Maeve and Alba-Luna sowing a butterfly wild flower mix with extra cowslips, foxgloves and poppies. Followed by tea and cake of course, courtesy of Wendy. Looking forward to a colourful spring.
March 20th 2026, the first day of spring
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| Colourful blooms from last autumn’s planting |
Easter Bank Holiday
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| Holly Blue enjoying a picnic |
Monday 13th April 2026
Two new recruits to FoMP, Mr and Mrs Hog from Brimscombe, will be acclimatising at no. 4 for a few days before taking up residence in their new home by the path.
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| Mrs H enjoying a drink in the early hours |
Mr Hog moved out the next day, while Mrs H stayed for just over a week before shuffling off. No sightings along the path yet, but all being well the Hog family will be making the most of the leaf piles along the edges and hunting for food there and in accessible gardens.
We are really grateful to all our Sponsors:
