About the reserve

There's a diverse range of habitats found at Snows Farm, including pasture, old hedges, ancient beechwoods, stony screes, deadwood and the tree-lined brook. This diversity supports more than 300 plant species and provide a source of food and nest sites for many species of birds

The traditional limestone grassland within the steep-sided valley at Snows Farm is home to a variety of wildflowers, including early purple, fragrant and pyramidal orchids, as well as autumn gentian, vervain and clustered bellflower. Part of the nature reserve is ancient woodland and there are areas of scrub containing dog-rose, field rose, hawthorn and dogwood, while wayfaring trees, alder, white willow, ash and hazel grow along the edges of the Dillay Brook which runs through the reserve.

Whitethroat, marsh tit, skylark, tree pipit and grey wagtail are some of the birds recorded on the reserve and there are good populations of small blue, marbled white and green hairstreak butterflies. The nature reserve is grazed by Dartmoor ponies and cattle.

History

Snows Farm is found at the head of the Dillay Valley and has always been traditionally managed. The sides of the nature reserve are too steep for growing crops, so instead the farm was used for grazing sheep and escaped the agricultural ‘improvements’ introduced from the 1950s to maximise production.  A derelict building, now just a stone enclosure and pile of stones known as ‘The Old Shop’, sits at the northern end of the reserve. Snows Farm has been managed as a nature reserve from 1975, with former owner Peter Duddridge gifting it to GWT in 1989.