Breadcrumbs
Finest Countryside
In the past 54 years, 10 National Parks and 37 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) have been selected and together they account for almost a quarter of England’s countryside.
Recent legislation has brought renewed interest in the importance of AONBs. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act placed them on a more secure footing and significantly increased their importance as nationally designated landscapes. It has confirmed for the first time the powers of local councils to take appropriate action to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of these regions.
The accolade ‘natural beauty’ encompasses the abundance and variety of plants and wildlife found in AONBs, together with characteristic rocks and landforms that lend AONBs their scenic beauty and much envied tranquility. AONBs are also living and working landscapes whose beauty has been distilled by the activities of preceding generations. Consequently, our appreciation of beauty also includes the history, archaeology and cultural experiences of these magnificent landscapes.
Natural England supports AONBs with financial support for core functions such as staff salaries, office costs and the production of key documents such as annual reports, action plans, and management plans. Partnership working is encouraged through a variety of valuable projects to enhance the landscape and biodiversity of these areas funded by Natural England with matched money from a wide range of sources. For the first time in 2005, a Sustainable Development Fund has been made available to AONBs in England. This has been run successfully for many years in AONBs in Wales and National Parks and offers an exciting opportunity to extend sustainable community involvement within AONBs. Natural England also supports AONBs through attendance at meetings at all levels and through the advice, guidance and assistance it provides.
There are 4 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Midlands:
- Cannock Chase
- Wye Valley
- Malvern Hills
- Shropshire Hills
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase takes its name from its origins as a medieval Royal hunting forest dedicated to the pursuit of wild game. Today, the Chase’s wild high sandstone heathlands, pine plantations and abundant wildlife provide echoes of its earlier history. The heathlands fringed by historic parklands and enclosed farmlands are popular with visitors following the quiet tracks that comb its high open heath, oakwood valleys known as ‘slades’ and green plantations of pine.
For more information on the Cannock Chase AONB
Malvern Hills
The tree fringed rolling hills of east Herefordshire culminate in the series mountain in miniature that form the Malvern Ridge, which thrust unexpectedly from the pastoral patchwork of the Severn Vale. Widely acknowledged as the inspiration for much of Edward Elgar’s finest music, the hills provide exhilarating and heady views west to the Herefordshire Woodlands and east to the pastures of Worcestershire.
For more information on the Malvern Hills AONB
Shropshire Hills
Immortalised by A E Housman as the quintessential ‘Blue Remembered Hills’, Shropshire's famous landscape is dominated by a succession of hill and dale. The evocative Clee Hills, Wenlock Edge, Long Mynd and Stiperstones all border lush green vales and form looming ridges lifting, range upon range, into Wales. While a tranquil peace reigns today, a landscape punctuated by castles, hillforts and the ramparts of Offa’s Dyke all hint at the area’s much contested past.
For more information on the Shropshire Hills AONB
Wye Valley
Sewn together by the sinuous beauty of the River Wye, the Wye Valley AONB unites the lush orchards and meadows of the Herefordshire plain, with the dramatic ravine woodlands of Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire and picturesque beauty of Tintern Abbey. The famous Symonds Yat typifies the towering drama of the Wye’s limestone gorges, whose craggy pinnacles, home to famous peregrine falcons, provide some of the finest views in England and Wales.
For more information on the Wye Valley AONB
