ChalkEscape Walking Festival 2025

Cranborne Chase National Landscapecovers 380 sq miles of countryside overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. It is a diverse landscape offering areas of rolling chalk grassland, ancient woodlands, chalk escarpments, downland hillsides and chalk river valleys each with a distinct and recognisable character. The landscapes of Cranborne Chase today, as they were in the past, are extraordinarily rich. The Cranborne Chase National Landscape was designated as an Area of Outstanding Beauty in 1981 and the Partnership’s primary aim is to ensure that these exceptional landscapes are conserved and enhanced for future generations. National designation of this deeply rural area is founded on its being a vibrant, living, working landscape. Agriculture, forestry, related rural industries and all its local communities are central to its conservation and enhancement into the future.TheChase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Schemeis a National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme which aims to protect and enhance the special landscape of the Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley through twenty projects focused on the natural, historic and cultural assets of this important area.The Partnership Area includes what was the traditional heart of the Cranborne Chase Medieval royal hunting ground, and the river valley to the north known locally as the Chalke Valley.The projects aim to:Conserve, enhance & restore key features of natural, historic and cultural heritage.Offer opportunities to develop awareness, understanding and enjoyment together with knowledge, skills and volunteering to provide a lasting legacy for the future.Provide opportunities for individuals and communities, near and far, young and old, to care for local heritage.Foster pride in the unique and rich heritage of this landscape.