Breadcrumbs
North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The North Pennines is a landscape of high, wild heather moorland and green settled dales, with tumbling rivers and waterfalls, an internationally important biodiversity and geology and a rich historic environment. The AONB crosses the boundaries of two English Regions, being in both the North East and the North West.
The landscape of the North Pennines contains many habitats of exceptional conservation value, including blanket bog, upland heath and species-rich hay meadows. Internationally important numbers of birds, including 10,000 pairs of breeding waders and 80% of England’s black grouse, breed and feed on the open moors and adjacent grasslands.
In June 2003, the North Pennines AONB was awarded the UNESCO-backed status of ‘European Geopark’ (the first in Britain) in recognition of the area’s world class earth heritage and the efforts being made to conserve and interpret it.
In 2004 the AONB partnership produced its first management plan. This document provides a framework for action for the conservation and enhancement of the North Pennines AONB up to 2009. The plan can be downloaded from the AONB's website.
