Cranborne Chase Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

This nationally designated AONB covers 380 sq miles of countryside overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. It is a diverse landscape offering areas of rolling chalk grassland, ancient woodlands, chalk escarpments, downland hillsides and chalk river valleys each with a distinct and recognisable character. The landscapes of the AONB today, as they were in the past, are extraordinarily rich.

The AONB was designated in 1981 and the AONB Partnership’s primary aim is to ensure that these exceptional landscapes are conserved and enhanced for future generations. National designation of this deeply rural AONB is founded on its being a vibrant, living, working landscape. Agriculture, forestry, related rural industries and all its local communities are central to its conservation and enhancement into the future.