Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is shaped by chalk, formed after a period 100 million years ago when it was under the sea. Today it comprises 380 square miles of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, almost 90% of which is classed as farmland. The AONB accounts for 14% of the UK’s important chalk grassland, as well as ancient woodlands and 220 miles of increasingly threatened chalk rivers.

It’s a walker’s paradise, with a network of Rights of Way that extends over 927 miles in total. The long-distance footpaths of the Wessex Ridgeway, Jubilee Trail and the Monarch’s Way run through this AONB. For epic views head to Melbury Beacon or Winklebury Hill Fort on the Ox Drove.

Cranborne Chase AONB is an International Dark Sky Reserve, the first AONB to be designated as such in 2019, and there are 550 registered Ancient Monuments and over 50 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Top Cannock Chase AONB Camping Options