Photo Gallery
Click on the gallery name below, then hover over the images to view (initially, images may take a few moments to load).
- Farming and Forestry
- Projects (SDF, LAF, SEEDS)
- Historic sites to visit in the AONB
The AONB is 82% farmland. Agriculture has shaped the landscape and farming defines the character of the landscape and our communities.
Most farmers in the AONB are helping wildlife on their farms. Many are working within government schemes that help them go further, such as planting special crops for farmland birds.
The AONB holds 14% of the remaining chalk grassland in the UK, this rare habitat requires careful management, such as at Ansty Down.
Livestock production is a vital component of the mixed farming that characterises the AONB landscape.
Our woodlands have been managed in traditional ways, such as the coppicing of hazel, ash and oak. Large scale coppicing has a last bastion in the woodlands of Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs. 
Traditional craftsmen still produce valuable and useful items such as hurdles and thatching spars from the underwood timber of our woodlands.
All good things come to an end: the beech plantations of Cranborne Chase are eventually felled and the timber utilised before replanting begins.
The woodlands of the AONB produce fine softwood timber crops.
Wood chip for wood fuel promises to be an expanding future market. South West Woodfuels demonstrates a chipper at an AONB event.
The AONB has worked with renewable energy suppliers such as Dunster Wood Fuels to raise the profile of biomass from woodlands.
Some trees, like this ancient beech in Grovely Wood, are protected and managed into extreme old age, creating habitats for rare and unusual wildlife.
Ancient traditions associated with woodlands, such as Oak Apple Day at Great Wishford, are still going strong in the AONB.
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers received an award to work with disadvantaged young people at the Springhead Trust.
Donna learned new skills and gained extra confidence when she undertook an AONB sponsored course
Village communities have received awards and equipment loans to enable them to carry out Litter Picking Days.
The AONB awarded about £15,000 to Wren’s Shop, a new community owned village shop at East Knoyle.
The Millennium Walk at Maiden Bradley was restored using a grant from the AONB.
The AONB and Dorset County Council joined forces to provide better access to walkers (and their dogs!) around Farnham.
The youngest residents of Martin will not have to go to nursery in Salisbury thanks to an enabling grant from the AONB: they have their own place in their own village.
The Woodland Trust teamed up with Rushmore Estate to hold a training day for people who own and manage our finest ancient woodlands.
Steps in Time,a dance troupe that keeps our traditional dance and music alive, received an award to attend the Europeade, Europe’s largest and most prestigious festival of folk dancing, as the only English side ever to been invited.
The Wilton Riding for the Disabled group received an award so that the money they raised on their annual Charity Ride was not used in paying for the event.
The Wiltshire Schools Partnership received an award to buy more adventure training equipment for children in Warminster.
Sixpenny Handley community composting scheme was awarded a grant to buy a tractor-driven shredder.
Bokerley Dyke is one of the most substantial and visible of all the monuments on and in the vicinity of Martin Down. It is thought to have originated in the Bronze Age or Early Iron Age and was an important political and cultural boundary.
Phillips House is in the centre of a tranquil designed park adjacent to the village of Dinton. The house is a Neo-Grecian design dating to 1820 and is owned by the National Trust.
Stourhead is another National Trust property in the north-west of the AONB. It is one of the world's finest 18th-century landscape gardens.
Wardour Castle is managed by English Heritage. It was built in the 14th century as a lightly fortified luxury residence for comfortable living and lavish entertainment and was destroyed during the English Civil War.
The ruined Medieval church at Knowlton sits in the middle of a great Neolithic ceremonial earthwork known as a Henge. It symbolises the transition from pagan to Christian worship.
The remains of the this tower windmill dating to circa AD 1800 dominates the hill above the village of East Knoyle.
The military cap badges at Fovant were created by soldiers stationed here during the 1914-1918 war.Obtaining Photographs
If you are looking for photographs of the AONB, or would like to use any of the images in the gallery, please contact us to see if we can help you - we would also like to make images available to partner organisations wherever possible.
Homepage Photography
Photography on the homepage is copyright the following photographers:
Ken Leslie lives in the Chalke Valley, near Salisbury in South Wiltshire. The valley falls within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB. Visit Website
Andrew Wiltshire has lived most of his life in the Chalke Valley to the west of Salisbury. All the images on his website are available in a variety of formats, all the proceeds being donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Visit Website
Discover the Area:
Food, Drink & Crafts
Places to Visit
Walking, Cycling, Riding
Staying in the AONB
Travel & Transport
Tel: 01725 517417 | Fax: 01725 517916 | Email: info@cranbornechase.org.uk | Disclaimer
