The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

 (AONB) covers 379 square miles (981.6 km²) of Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 and Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

. It is the sixth largest AONB in the country.

The landscape is mainly chalk downland that is farmed. Settlers populated the area thousands of years ago and constructed Ackling Dyke

Ackling Dyke

Ackling Dyke is a section of Roman road in England which runs for southwest from Old Sarum to the hill fort at Badbury Rings .Much of the road exists as an exceptionally large embankment , up to wide and high...

 and the Knowlton Circles. The area was later the scene of conflict in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, seeing the destruction of Old Wardour Castle. Other features include Tollard Royal

Tollard Royal

Tollard Royal is a village and civil parish on Cranborne Chase, Wiltshire, England. The parish is on Wiltshire's southern boundary with Dorset and the village is southeast of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury....

, once considered the capital of Cranborne Chase

Cranborne Chase

Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, the Dorset Downs to the south west and the...

; and Fovant

Fovant

Fovant is a medium-sized village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England. It is located between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30 road in the Nadder valley. Its name is derived from the Old English Fobbefunta, meaning "spring of a man called Fobbe"...

, where soldiers training during the First World War cut regimental badges into the chalk hillside.

This AONB includes two large blocks of woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

, Grovely Wood

Grovely Wood

Grovely Wood is one of the largest woodlands in southern Wiltshire. It is situated on a chalk ridge above the River Wylye to the south of the village of Great Wishford, within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

 and Great Ridge Wood

Great Ridge Wood

Great Ridge Wood, formerly also known as Chicklade Wood, is one of the largest woodlands in southern Wiltshire. It lies on a chalk ridge above the River Wylye, to the north of the village of Fonthill Bishop and to the south of Corton and Stockton, within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs...

.

External links

• Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB website
• Cranborne Chase AONB Woodfair
• Historic Landscape Characterisation - Explore the history and archaeology of the AONB