The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Credit Chris Smith

The Chilterns, covering 833 sq km of countryside and spanning Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, was made an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965 by Parliament. This gives us the same status and protection in planning policy as a National Park! Surrounded by major towns and cities, the Chilterns is arguably the most accessible protected landscape in the United Kingdom. You can even get here by tube!

Why is the Chilterns AONB protected?

GEOLOGY This picture shows the bright yellow of the chalk with the red line showing the boundary of the AONB.

Chalk landscapes are incredibly rare globally Chalk landscapes are incredibly rare globally. The Chilterns landscape includes a dramatic chalk ridge as well as rare chalk grasslands and chalk streams. These are unique geological features, which, when well looked after, are abundant with wildlife.

The Chilterns has 21% woodland cover, of which 60% is ancient woodland, continuously wooded for more than 400 years. This is home to some of the most spectacular bluebells displays in the world. Besides the beautiful trees, the soils are unique – undisturbed by ploughing or chemicals. Woodland has been a source of industry here for centuries.

Traditional buildings make use of local materials especially clay and flint which is found across many Chiltern hilltops. Using local materials helps these traditional buildings to blend with their surroundings.

This is a place where signs of human habitation date back thousands of years. Farming of the valleys and escarpment started in the stone age and continues to this day. One of the oldest known trading routes in Great Britain, the Icknield Way, passes along the edge of the Chilterns and there are 22 known iron age hillforts scattered across the hills. There are also signs of the Chilterns’ more recent industrial past such as chalk quarries, sawpits and cherry orchards, alongside 21st century farmed landscapes, transport infrastructure and recreational uses such as golf courses and pony paddocks.

With over 2,000 kms of rights of way and space to breathe, we know that beautiful, wildlife rich landscapes like the Chilterns can support healthy communities…

… the local economy

… clean air, clean water, flood management, pollination and healthy soils.

….as well as having their own intrinsic value.

The future of the Chilterns

beyond and we need your views! We are developing our plans to protect the AONB for the next 5 years and beyond and we need your views! Please fill out our survey and tell us what is important to you, what you value most and what you are concerned about so that these can be taken into account as we develop our plans. Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TPG5379 Thank you

Photo credits Chris Smith Allen Beechey Annette Venters Colin Drake Clive Ormonde Snow Petrol Photography John Morris Gary Whitlow Gavin Casperz Emma Chappell Joseph Murphy