Dedham Vale AONB
Situated on the Suffolk-Essex border, this AONB protects an exceptional example of a lowland river valley. Undulating slopes fall gently to the slow-flowing, meandering River Stour and in its hedged water meadows, copses and riverbank willows; the landscape is perhaps the epitome of the farmed English countryside.
It has an extraordinary range of different scales and special features giving rise to distinctive landscape characters - rolling fields on the valley slopes, lush and sheltered valley-floor meadows and open marshes, and intimate tributary valleys. Its pastoral scenes are world-famous as the settings used by the artist John Constable, and Flatford Mill and picturesque Dedham retain an unspoilt quality, despite their many summer visitors.
The designated area of the AONB stretches upstream from Manningtree to within one mile of Bures. However, the landscape quality of the remainder of the Stour Valley has resulted in its designation as a potential AONB or Special Landscape Area, and countryside management takes place within this wider framework.
Because much of East Anglia's traditional grasslands have already been drained and ploughed for arable farming, the hedgerows and wildflower meadows of Dedham Vale are among some of England's most precious and vulnerable pastoral landscapes. The countryside is enhanced by narrow lanes and characteristic timber-frame and thatch houses.
With a population of under 10,000 this is still essentially a farming area, although the AONB now has a significant proportion of residents commuting to Ipswich, Colchester and London. Tourism is localised, but forms an important part of the economy at Dedham and Flatford, while the River Stour is an important boating and angling water.
For further information, visit the Dedham Vale AONB and the Stour Valley Project website (www.dedhamvalestourvalley.org/).
Content supplied by the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (www.aonb.org.uk/)
