Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Landscapes Worth Protecting

Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — now formally known as the Dorset National Landscape — covers around 1,130 square kilometres and takes in some of the most varied and distinctive countryside in southern England. A guide to what it protects, how it is managed, and why it matters to the communities within it.

Dorset has a reputation for being one of the most rural counties in southern England, a reputation that is well earned. Outside the main towns, the county remains largely agricultural, with large areas of chalk downland, river valley meadow, ancient woodland, and heathland that have survived the pressures of modern farming and development more intact than equivalent landscapes elsewhere in the south of England. The AONB designation, which was applied to the Dorset countryside in 1959, provided a formal framework for protecting this character, though it does not mean the area is unchanged or unchanging.

The Dorset National Landscape — AONBs were renamed National Landscapes in England in 2023, though the older name remains in common use — covers roughly half the county. It does not include the main urban areas of Bournemouth and Poole, or much of the lower Frome valley, but it takes in most of the distinctive countryside for which Dorset is known: the chalk hills of Cranborne Chase and the Purbeck ridge; the heaths that inspired Thomas Hardy; the Vale of Blackmoor; and much of the county’s western uplands. Lyme Regis sits just within the western edge of the designated area, and much of the countryside that surrounds it is protected under the designation.

What the designation means

An AONB designation does not give the public a right of access to the land within it, and it does not prevent development outright. What it does is place a statutory duty on local planning authorities to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the designated area when making planning decisions. Development that would harm the character of the AONB is much harder to approve, and proposals are assessed against a higher standard than would apply in undesignated countryside.

The Dorset National Landscape is managed by a partnership body that brings together local councils, Natural England, and a range of other organisations with an interest in the area. It produces a management plan, reviewed every five years, that sets out priorities for landscape conservation, habitat restoration, and the support of farming practices that maintain the characteristic features of the county’s countryside. The partnership employs a small team of officers who work with farmers, landowners, and community groups on practical projects across the area.

Chalk downland and its wildlife

The most immediately recognisable landscape within the Dorset AONB is the chalk downland that runs across the centre and south of the county, including the line of hills known as the Purbeck ridge and the great sweep of the South Dorset Ridgeway. This is a landscape shaped by thousands of years of grazing, which has kept the vegetation low and species-rich. Chalk grassland that has never been ploughed can support more than forty species of flowering plant per square metre, making it one of the most biodiverse habitats in Britain, and Dorset retains more of it than most English counties.

The wildlife associated with chalk downland includes several butterfly species that are now rare or declining nationally, including the Adonis blue, the chalk hill blue, and the silver-spotted skipper, all of which survive in Dorset partly because the county’s chalk grassland has been maintained through continued grazing. Orchids are common on the better downland sites, including the pyramidal orchid and several species of helleborine. The skylarks that sing above the chalk in summer are a characteristic sound of this landscape that has become much less common in lowland England generally over recent decades.

Heathland and the Hardy connection

The heathland that covers significant areas of south-east Dorset, particularly around Wareham and the Purbeck peninsula, is a quite different landscape from the chalk. It is dominated by heather, gorse, and acid-tolerant grasses growing on thin sandy soils left by glacial outwash. The open, treeless character of this landscape, with its wide skies and distant views, inspired Thomas Hardy’s description of “Egdon Heath” in The Return of the Native, and it remains one of the most evocative landscapes in southern England.

Dorset heathland supports populations of all six native British reptile species, including the smooth snake and the sand lizard, both of which are now largely confined to heathland habitats in this part of England. The Dartford warbler, a small bird that rarely strays far from dense gorse, breeds on Dorset heaths and is one of a handful of species closely associated with this specific habitat type. Much of the remaining heathland is managed by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, and the National Trust, and is accessible to the public on foot.

The coast and the Jurassic designation

Dorset’s coast is covered by two overlapping designations: the AONB, which takes in the land immediately adjacent to the shore, and the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site, which covers the geological features of the coast itself from Exmouth in Devon to Studland in Dorset. The two designations recognise different values in the same landscape, and both contribute to a framework of protection that has kept this stretch of coast largely free from the kind of development that has affected comparable sections of the English coastline elsewhere.

For communities like Lyme Regis, the practical effect of these designations is a combination of constraint and support. Building in or near the AONB is subject to careful scrutiny; but the designations also bring funding, tourism, and the attention of organisations that can provide resources for community projects. The Jurassic Coast Trust, which manages the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, works with communities along the coast on education, access, and conservation projects.

How communities can engage

The Dorset National Landscape partnership runs a volunteer programme and supports a range of community projects within the designated area. Local groups working on habitat management, footpath maintenance, or environmental education can access advice and sometimes funding through the partnership. Dorset Wildlife Trust, which is headquartered in Dorchester and operates more than a hundred nature reserves across the county, is the main voluntary organisation for conservation in Dorset and runs an active programme of events and volunteer opportunities throughout the year.

For residents and visitors who simply want to appreciate the landscape, the combination of the South West Coast Path, the inland bridleways and footpaths of the chalk downland, and the nature reserves managed by various organisations across the county provides access to some of the finest walking in southern England. The landscapes protected by the AONB designation are there to be used as well as preserved, and the two purposes reinforce each other: communities that understand and value their landscape are the most effective guardians of it.