The key characteristics of Blackmoor Vale and the Vale of Wardour are . . .

133. Blackmoor Vale and Vale of Wardour

The key characteristics of Blackmoor Vale and the Vale of Wardour are . . .

• A complex mosaic of mixed farming: undulating, lush, clay vales fringed by Upper Greensand hills and scarps. 

• Small, rectilinear pasture fields with hedgerow oak trees and many scattered small broadleaved woodlands.

• Many streams and waterside trees.

• Wooded Upper Greensand scarps and outliers with historic parks.

• Open arable Upper Greensand and dip slopes.

• Broken, low, limestone ridges with shallow valleys crossing the clayey Blackmoor Vale and steeper valleys around the margins of the area.

• Small villages and hamlets form nucleii within a patchwork of fields, hedges, woods and trees.

• Many villages at scarp foot, river crossing points and strategic sites.

• A wide variety of local building materials, including half timbering. Todber Freestone and Upper Greensand are widely used in the east.

For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.