Home > A propos de l’île de Wight > Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Since 1963 about half of the Isle of Wight has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are five parcels stretching across the whole land area, totaling 189 square kilometers.

Visually, the Isle of Wight’s AONB is dominated by chalk. This forms both the Island's eastwest backbone and its most famous landmark, the bright white stacks of the Needles. On the north coast, are the low clay cliffs, salt-marsh and mud-flats of the Hamstead Heritage Coast.

In the south, the landscapes bounded by the Tennyson Heritage Coast range from sandy bays to high sandstone and chalk cliffs, cut by wooded 'chines'. This complexity gives rise to chalk downland, arable farmland, wooded dairy pasture, heathland, sea cliffs and creeks.

When comparing the Island with other protected landscapes it is clear that it is unusual because our AONB is fragmented. This fragmentation and spread reflects the variety of landscape types held in such a small area, including some real gems. However this should not take anything away from the rest of our countryside since they are inextricably linked and complementary.

River Valleys

The River Medina divides the Island neatly in half. From its source near Chale, it drains rich, cattle grazed pastures and arable fields before reaching the county town of Newport. From here to Cowes, where it enters the Solent, it is estuarine, with open mudflats and wild marshes on international conservation importance that provide a safe haven to thousands of waterfowl.

The  Eastern Yar drains much of the South and East Wight, making its way through important wetland habitats. The Western Yar, which enters the Solent at Yarmouth, flows through some of the most undisturbed and tranquil lowland landscape on the Island.

Forest & Woodland

Parkhurst Forest, north of Newport, was mentioned in the Domesday records as a royal hunting forest. Though the forest has changed much since then, it still has some of the best oak trees on the Island, as well as a number of Scots and Corsican pine. Follow the well way-marked Pine and Oak Forest Trails to the Island's famous inhabitant, the red squirrel.

Borthwood Copse, near Sandown is owned by the National Trust and is a fragment of the medieval forest which covered most of the eastern end of the Island. A bridleway and a myriad of smaller paths guide you through this beautiful woodland, a joy to behold in the autumn with its vivid colours and, in the springtime, when carpeted with bluebells.