The Chilterns National Landscape (a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) is a special landscape belonging to everyone, including all those who live, work or visit here and our future generations too. In 2019, the Chilterns National Landscape team launched Chalk, Cherries and Chairs, funded primarily by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the HS2 Community and Environment Fund.
The project was a five-year landscape partnership scheme designed to celebrate, restore and improve the environmental and cultural heritage of the Central Chilterns. With our partners, we worked with landowners, local authorities and different communities to restore habitats, monitor vulnerable species, enhance cultural collections, increase public access and increase knowledge of this area.
One of the projects within Chalk, Cherries and Chairs explored Grim’s Ditch in Buckinghamshire, where the history of this historic Scheduled Monument was brought to residents of and visitors to the Chilterns through a guided walk and self-guided walk leaflet. Features along the walk highlight that how despite appearing a ‘natural landscape’, Grim’s Ditch is actually just the first example of how the woodland has been actively managed by the people who live and work in this region.
This interactive virtual tour allows the beauty and history of the route to be brought to those who cannot walk it themselves for whatever reason.
Find out more about Chalk, Cherries and Chairs
