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AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY

 

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is exactly what it says it is: a precious landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them.

Created by the same legislation that led to the national parks – the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act – the AONBs were established to conserve the beauty of the best of largely lowland rural Britain’s populated agricultural landscapes. This made them quite distinct from the national parks, which themselves were deliberately created in more remote, mainly upland areas that had large expanses of open land suitable not only for nature conservation, but also for the promotion of recreation. They were also designed to be run quite differently, the parks developing their own bureaucracies, complete with planning powers, large staffs and central funding, while the AONBs remained tied to local government, with a tiny core staff and relatively meagre finances.

Westleton Heath, in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB
AONB

Suffolk Coast and Heaths

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Although the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB is home to Britain’s youngest working nuclear plant, it also contains some of the country’s most important bird reserves. An AONB seemingly riddled with contradictions
Tamar Valley
AONB

Tamar Valley

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The Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has a long mining history, the remains of which now complement its gorges and rivers to form part of a World Heritage site that is rich in wildlife
Sheep graze in parkland near the village of Benenden in Kent
AONB

High Weald

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High Weald, UK’s fourth-largest AONB, is often described as a quintessential English landscape, stretching across Kent, Surrey and Sussex
The Ramblers Church, Walesby. After being restored in the 1930s, the church became a meeting place for groups such as the Ramblers’ Association
AONB

The Lincolnshire Wolds

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The Lincolnshire Wolds still bear the indelible impressions of numerous medieval villages that have long since returned to the soil. But it's the rolling hills and chalk streams that draw visitors today
An early morning frost encrusts the fields around Dumpdon Hill near Honiton in the Blackdown Hills AONB. Dumpdon Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort that is now owned and managed by the National Trust
AONB

Blackdown Hills

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Riven with river valleys and dotted with Iron Age hillforts, the Blackdown Hills are being opened up by a new trail system to improve access and preserve the region
Sunlight streams through pine trees near Seven Springs in Cannock Chase AONB
AONB

Cannock Chase

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A look at the UK’s smallest mainland AONB, which encompasses the largest surviving area of lowland heath in the Midlands and once acted as a training ground for more than half a million soldiers
Scrabo Tower, near Newtownards on the Ards Peninsula, overlooks the lough
AONB

Strangford Lough

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The largest inlet in the British Isles, Strangford Lough is a magnet for wildlife, from brent geese to basking sharks. Now, the fast-flowing narrows are a testing ground for renewable energy technology
An aerial view of a small island located north of the island of St Martins in the Isles of Scilly
AONB

Isles of Scilly

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Despite suffering regular batterings by the Atlantic Ocean, the Isles of Scilly are a haven for unusual plant and animal species— but the threat of sea-level rise is a real cause for concern in this AONB
The hill of Caer Caradoc – seen from the slopes of Long Mynd, near Church Stretton – is named after the Iron Age fort at its summit
AONB

The Shropshire Hills

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The Shropshire Hills are often overlooked by tourists but are filled with unusual sights and species including ancient holly trees and freshwater mussels
Sheep graze near a stone barn in the village of Lofthouse
AONB

Nidderdale

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On the edge of the Yorkshire Dales is an AONB whose reservoirs and ruins reveal its uses for both practical and pleasurable purposes
The ruins of Arnside Tower. Built in the late 14th or early 15th century, it's an example of a pele tower, a small fortified keep or tower house built along the England-Scotland border as a watch tower
AONB

Arnside and Silverdale

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Treacherous quicksand and booming birds – a look at Britain’s smallest AONB
The Devil’s Punch Bowl near Hindhead is a depression that was formed by springs permeating an upper layer of sandstone, causing it to collapse
AONB

Surrey Hills

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An AONB where coordinated efforts are underway to preserve the rural idyll and countryside character that belies its location just south of Greater London
The Sperrins AONB encompasses upland heath, oakwood and mixed native woodland, as well as lowland raised bog and blanket bog
AONB

The Sperrins

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Stretching from the Strule Valley to Lough Neagh, the Sperrins AONB encompasses a glaciated landscape that’s rich in history and contains internationally important blanket bog
The heathland of the eastern part of Bicton Common in the early morning. The common is part of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, which comprise layers of rounded quartzite pebbles formed during the Triassic period. Today, it’s used for military training
AONB

East Devon

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In search of bats and cliff-top farmland among the rural woods and spectacular coastlines of the West Country
The woods of Longridge Fell – the most southerly fell in England – near Green Thorn Farm
AONB

Forest of Bowland

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When is a forest not a forest? When it's this Lancashire AONB - ancient royal hunting land that now supports a healthy farming community.
The view from one of the hills surrounding Slieve Gullion down to Cam Lough, a glacial ribbon lake and area of special scientific interest. Image:
AONB

The Ring of Gullion

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The evocatively named Ring of Gullion Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which encircles an impressive ring dyke, the formation of which has both puzzled geologists and inspired a rich folklore
Although beech dominates the woodlands of the Chilterns, the AONB hosts several other tree species, including the silver birch in this wood
AONB

The Chilterns

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The undulating chalk hills and characteristic brick cottages of an AONB whose centuries-old traditions are at odds with its proximity to the metropolis of London
Broadstrand Beach near Ilfracombe was formed by a landslip in 1851 after a part of Hillsborough fell into the sea
AONB

North Devon Coast

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An AONB that showcases coastal cliffs, sandy beaches, fishing villages, the vast combined estuaries of the Taw and Torridge rivers, and the largest sand dune system in England within its three segments
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