The key characteristics of the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands are:

88. Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands

The key characteristics of the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands are:

• Gently undulating topography and plateau areas, divided by broad shallow valleys.

• Predominantly an open and intensive arable landscape. Fields bounded by either open ditches or sparse closely trimmed hedges both containing variable number and quality of hedgerow trees.

• River corridors of Great Ouse and Ivel compose cohesive sub-areas characterised by flood plain grassland, riverine willows and larger hedges.

• Woodland cover variable. Clusters of ancient deciduous woods on higher plateau area to north-west between Salcey and Grafham Water. Smaller plantations and secondary woodland within river valleys.

• Settlement pattern clusters around major road and rail corridors (A1 and M1) many with raw built edges. Smaller, dispersed settlements elsewhere. Village edge grasslands an important feature.

• Generally a diversity of building materials, including brick, thatch and stone. Limestone villages on the upper Great Ouse.

• Man-made reservoir at Grafham Water. Restored gravel working lakes adjacent to river Ouse, and water-bodies in Marston Vale resulting from clay extraction.

• Brickfields of Marston Vale and Peterborough form a major industrial landscape. Mixed extraction, dereliction and landfill.

• Medieval earthworks including deserted villages the major feature of visible archaeology.

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.