Weather disruption
Winter weather is causing disruption to services in some parts of the county. Find out what services may be affected in your area.
Winter weather is causing disruption to services in some parts of the county. Find out what services may be affected in your area.
The Open Chalk Upland landscape type is found around Dorchester, to the south and east of Blandford and follows the chalk escarpment to the south and east of Dorchester, into the Isle of Purbeck.
The Open Chalk Upland landscape merges seamlessly into the adjacent Chalk Valley and Downland areas and is simple, large-scale expansive landscapes of broad rolling open hills with large agricultural estates mainly under arable production. Partly circled south of Dorchester by a narrow face of steep escarpments, the open uplands provide the setting for a series of intimate chalk river valleys in this part of the county. The curving convex profiles to the land form help provide wide and open vistas providing panoramic views to distant landmarks. The land cover is a patchwork of large arable fields bounded by straight and low hedges or fencing with isolated small blocks of geometrically shaped woodland. Numerous ancient settlement sites, long barrows and burial mounds from the Neolithic and Bronze ages dot the landscape to indicate a historically well-settled landscape. However it is now a relatively sparsely populated area with a network of widely spaced out straight lanes, roads and other public rights of way. Some of the roads follow old Roman routes and there are only scattered isolated farmsteads across the area. The most notable literary associations of the area come from that of Thomas Hardy’s writings of culture, history and landscape. The atmosphere and natural forces of the chalk uplands are clearly evident throughout his works with description of traditional land management practices. Hardy’s Monument, the commemorative tower on Black Down hill and the Iron Age hill forts at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings are all prominent and key landmarks in the area.
The overall management objective for this Open Chalk Upland Landscape Type should be to conserve the distinct downland landscape of broad rolling hills and gentle slopes whilst restoring the condition of many of its characteristic features to increase visual unity and make the combination and pattern of elements more distinct.